Eternal Spartan
by pjmb13
Summary: The follow up to "Faithfully Spartan". The "Battle of the Hellmouth" is over. Michael-113 has sealed the Hellmouth with a nuclear bomb, but finds himself trapped and separated from Faith. Can he find his way home? Will Faith sit and wait or will she take charge and look for her Spartan? Enjoy
1. Chapter 1

This is my second story. This is a HALO Buffy crossover and is the sequel to my first story "Faithfully Spartan". I appreciate all constructive comments and editorials. I have discovered from writing that to become a decent writer you must have no self-esteem :-)

I just want to say thanks to the creators, writers and designers of both the HALO and Buffy franchises. They have provided me with hours of enjoyment and entertainment. All characters are the intellectual property of their respective creators and publishers; this story may not be sold or distributed on a profit-making basis.

Thanks to all that read this story..

* * *

**Eternal Spartan**

**The Prelude**

_"__Michael… Please… Please don't leave me… I love you!" {female voice identified as Faith Lehane}_

_"__Faith, I love you! I will…" {voice of unidentified male - transmission interrupted.}_

-_Transcript of intercepted communications by US Military during "Sunnydale Event" May 23, 2003  
_

_**Fort Meade, Maryland – February 22, 2004 – 0845 EST**_

Agent Riley Finn entered the office. The assistant sitting at her desk looked up and greeted Riley, "Agent Finn, the General is expecting you… Go straight in."

As Riley entered the office, he quickly noticed that it was very sparse in furnishings. There was a desk and several chairs. A large plasma TV with DVD player was sitting on a table against the wall besides the desk. Riley immediately came to attention and saluted.

"Good morning Riley… At ease and take a seat."

Riley quickly sat down in the chair in front of the General's desk.

"How is your wife?" asked the general.

"She is keeping well… Sir." replied Riley.

"I heard that your last mission was pretty rough… That was the one in Brazil if I remember correctly?"

"It was pretty rough Sir." Riley acknowledged, "But we completed it successfully."

"That's good…" the General said.

Riley's military experience told him that this meeting was for more than discussing a past mission. He waited for the other shoe to drop.

"Riley… I was going through your file again. Before you joined our operations here, your last assignment was with Dr. Walsh and The Initiative program… correct?"

"Yes Sir… that is correct." Riley said starting to get a bad feeling about this line of questioning.

"You were based in Sunnydale… correct?

"Yes Sir…" Riley could hear alarm bells going off in his head now.

"From our "reports" it is my understanding that you had a personal relationship with a Buffy Summers… Who is also known as The Slayer?"

"_And… there it is…_" thought Riley.

"Yes Sir."

"Are you aware of what transpired in Sunnydale several months ago?" asked the General.

"Only from what I heard on the news… something about a seismic event and a natural gas explosion." Riley definitely knew that something was going on and whatever it was, it somehow involved Buffy.

"Uh… Yes… That is the story that has been given to the public. Before we go any further I need to ask several more questions?"

"Go ahead Sir." replied Riley.

"Are you aware of or have you ever meet the other Slayer… one Faith Lehane?"

_Ouch_… That was a touchy subject as Riley recalled his only encounter with Faith. Faith had come out of a coma and used a magic charm to switch bodies with Buffy and that they had a very close encounter while Faith was in Buffy's body.

"Yes Sir I have met Faith… The last information I had was that she was in prison?"

"Well your information is out of date soldier. It appears that this Faith left prison and returned to Sunnydale."

Riley got suddenly very worried and concerned… "Does this have anything to do with what happened in Sunnydale… Sir?"

"Settle down Riley… Your ex-girlfriend is doing fine and we will get to the matter in due course."

Riley now knew that this was more of an interrogation than a "friendly chat".

"To continue… When you were "dating" this Slayer… you got to know the people around her and the weapons she and they used?"

"_Huh? Where is he going with this?_" thought Riley.

"Yes Sir." Riley replied to the General.

"What kind of weapons?"

"Wooden stakes… swords… crossbows… magic…" Riley responded feeling sort of silly.

"Understood… Did they ever have access to or use automatic weapons, Claymores, explosives or any other military hardware or equipment?"

"Huh! What are you talking about Sir?"

"Just answer the question…"

"No Sir! I never saw Buffy or any of the others use military hardware or weapons in the time I was with her… Sir!"

"To your knowledge are you aware if Buffy Summers and/or any of her associates had access to nuclear or fissionable materials?"

Riley's mouth dropped open, "Are you kidding me!" He said as he forgot who he was addressing.

"Enough soldier! Just answer the question…"

"No Sir!"

"Thank you… Just one last question… Are you aware of anything peculiar or strange that happened outside your normal experiences while you were in Sunnydale?"

Riley pondered this for a minute, "Well it seemed as if nothing ever normal occurred in Sunnydale…" Something gnawed at his memory… He struggled to recall something…

"Oh wait… I do remember one time that Dr. Walsh had all the teams do a search. There had been a report of some sort of energy or nuclear event that had been seen by one of our recon satellites… Is that what you are asking about? Sir?"

The General leaned forward as he now became very interested in Riley's response, "Did your teams find anything during their search?"

"No Sir. We tracked to the reported area and found a lot of tracks and a small thermal burn area where the soil had been "cooked" to glass. We took photos and soil samples and everything got shipped to the Pentagon for further analysis… We never heard anything back and the matter dropped…"

The General seemed a little disappointed at the response. "Thank you Riley… That at least gives us somewhere to start."

"Start what? Where? Sir?"

"Riley, what I'm about to show you is classified Beyond Top Secret. Only a small group knows what actually happened in Sunnydale and if you ever breathe a word about it… You will be buried… Period! Understood?"

Riley gulped as he wasn't sure that he wanted to know anymore, "Understood Sir!"

The General picked up a remote control and turned in his chair to face the TV and DVD player. Riley followed suit.

"Normally I would do this briefing in one of our conference rooms with all our fancy computer gear, but we have reason to believe that our whole computer network has been compromised…"

Riley was shocked, "Our whole network has been hacked! That's impossible! Was it the Chinese… North Koreans… Russians?"

"I can assure you that it is possible and we don't believe it was any foreign power or group that we are aware of…"

Riley was confused, "But then who… Sir?"

"That's what we would like to know… This video does offer some insight…" as the General pressed the power button and then the play button to start the video.

The video came on and immediately showed an aerial view at night. The General explained "What you are seeing is drone footage taken over Sunnydale on May 23, 2003."

The drone was flying and it appeared to be approaching a town. From the footage you could see explosions, fires, even parachute flares and tracer rounds signifying gunfire… lots of gunfire from the looks of it.

Riley was shocked. He was looking at a war going on in Sunnydale. From the drone footage he could see movement from creatures, lots of creatures, appearing to come out of a building that had been blown up and turned to rubble. The drone did an over flight and you could see right down into the basement and the hole where these creatures were streaming out of in waves…

Riley suddenly realized that he was looking into the Hellmouth and demons pouring out of it.

Evidently someone was fighting the demons and he had a sickening feeling who was in the middle of it…

"My God!" was all that Riley could say.

"My god indeed…" replied the General.

The General continued, "As you have apparently deduced, the Sunnydale Hellmouth opened up and demons came pouring out of it… We are not sure what type of creatures they were, but communication intercepts indicate some kind of vampire as they were referring to "Ubervamps" or "Ubervampires"."

"As you can see, the demons or "Ubervampires" were being engaged by a military force… quite effectively by the looks of it… Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your point of view no US military units were involved in this battle."

"So who and what group was fighting in Sunnydale?" Riley asked almost afraid to hear the answer.

"That's the million dollar question isn't it?" the General responded.

The General pressed another button on the remote and sound started coming from the TV. "The group fighting the demons was well-organized and was using communications to mount and co-ordinate their defense. Most of the communications were in the clear, but we did pickup up some communications that were on a highly encrypted channel… Our experts say it is nothing like they have ever seen."

Riley could hear the voices. He could hear the panic and fear, but he could hear the determination and resolve from those fighting…

"…_There are so many_…"

"…_Watch the left side… they're swarming_…"

"…_Oh god… they are coming through… someone_…"

"…_Keep firing_…"

Riley couldn't believe that most of the voices were female and they sounded young. He had heard some of the voices cut-off abruptly and sometimes with screams, he realized that those people had been killed. He had recognized Giles's and Xander's voices in that com traffic. Riley had been in combat before, but the intensity of it was insane.

"…_This is Bravo Team, I can see ubervamps flowing into the gap by Fox Team_…"

Riley blanched when he heard that voice. He recognized that voice all too well… It was Buffy and she was involved with all this.

* * *

The General could see Riley react, "Yes, we have identified through voice analysis that is the voice of one Buffy Summers…"

Riley was speechless, "I don't know what to say Sir. The last time I was in Sunnydale and saw Buffy, I had no idea that she had organized to this level…"

The General smiled, "Oh… that's not the most interesting part…"

Riley blinked at the General's statement.

"Watch closely now." as the General directed Riley's attention back to the TV.

Riley watched and could see something moving at a fast speed. The drone camera was having a hard time keeping a steady lock on it, but Riley could see that whatever it was it was man-shaped and from determining size relationships with other objects, it had to be at least seven feet tall and was huge. Riley looked at the "person" and it appeared to be wearing a helmet and some sort of body armor suit.

Riley watched as the person encountered one of the demons. He was shocked as he watched the mystery person ward off a blow from the demon and then proceeded to pick it up and do a crushing back breaker move and then to top it off, the mystery person then proceeded to tear the head off the demon…

"My god…" was all that Riley could say.

"Wait… It gets better…" said the General.

Riley continued watching as the "mystery person" ran at speed faster than any human could. Riley watched as the person reached a strip mall that was swarming with demons. Riley could see tracer rounds coming out of some of the buildings, so there were some human forces in there fighting. He watched the person, in a movement so fast that he almost missed it, pick up what appeared to be a Gatling minigun and jump on a makeshift barricade of vehicles.

Riley was mesmerized as the drone camera panned out and showed waves of those Ubervampires moving towards the lone figure… He saw the figure start to fire the minigun and mow down wave after wave of demons…

"Jesus… this is unreal… Who or what is that?" was all that Riley could say.

"Unknown and that's what scares us…" the General replied frankly.

The General continued, "On first look, we thought it was some sort of robot or cyborg… much like Project 314."

Riley felt his heart skip a beat at the thought of there being another Adam in existence.

"But this upcoming communication made us re-evaluate our hypothesis and the threat level…"

Riley continued watching as the drone circled over the Hellmouth. He listened to the transmissions…

"…_Under Spartan command authority… Sierra-113 has invoked deployment of nuclear weapons on the battlefield_…"

"…_What the hell is going on? Adriana… What is Michael doing? He can't be serious_?..."

"…_as Michael and I became more aware of the situation here in Sunnydale and with the Hellmouth, we devised Case Ragnarok as an operations plan to deal with a contingency where an event/situation could not be contained within the Hellmouth or Sunnydale and there was extreme danger to the survival of the human race… A high yield 50 kiloton nuclear warhead was "obtained" and modified to be used as a portable battlefield weapon…With implementation of Case Ragnarok, the warhead is now armed and active. A delay timer is now on a 15 minute count down hold… All fire teams will now fall back to alternate designated defense positions to seek shelter and protection from_…."

Riley held up his hand and the General paused the recording and video…

Riley turned to the General and said slowly shaking his head, "This… This has to be a joke… Are you saying that a nuclear weapon was used in Sunnydale! How is this… How did they get one?"

The General responded, "Again that's the million dollar question. We checked all our computer inventory records and they show all weapons accounted for. When we went back and did a hard count, we found that there was in fact one 50 kiloton warhead missing."

"What is a Spartan? Who is this Sierra-113, Michael and Adriana?" asked Riley still in disbelief.

"We think that this Spartan, Sierra-113 and Michael are all one in the same and is our "mystery person". We have no idea who this Adriana person is." replied the General.

The General pressed play on the remote control.

"…_Seek shelter and protection from a bloody nuclear bomb! Are you bloody kidding me_!..."

Riley recognized Spike's voice.

"…_all fire teams will seek shelter and protection at alternate designated defense positions from nuclear blast and radiation… The Spartan will take the warhead into the Hellmouth to place as far as possible to ensure closure of the Hellmouth_…"

Riley watched as the "Spartan" moved towards the Hellmouth and fight its way through the hordes of Ubervampires. He was amazed as it appeared that the majority of creatures gave chase back into the Hellmouth after the "Spartan".

Riley continued to watch and listen.

"…_Michael… Do you hear me? Michael… For the love of God please respond_…"

"…_Michael… This is Faith… What are you doing? Come back_…!"

"…_Faith_?..."

"…_Oh thank god Michael_!..."

"…_Faith… I'm so glad to hear your voice. I'm coming_…"

"..._Michael… Please… Please don't leave me… I love you_!..."

"..._Faith, I love you! I will_…"

At this point the video went white and the transmissions ceased. Riley turned to face the General.

"It was at this point that the nuclear device, that this group had, detonated in the Hellmouth. The EMP pulse fried the drone's electronics and it crashed."

Riley just sat in disbelief shaking his head. "This is just so unbelievable. Sir."

"Well believe it soldier. From the last communications, we believe that this "Spartan - Michael" and Faith had a very close relationship..."

The General continued, "The problem for us is that we just had an unknown, apparently well-organized and well-armed group just fight a major battle and detonate a nuclear device on US soil against demonic forces… At the time of the incident the decision was made to "let sleeping dogs lie"… It appeared that this Spartan had died setting off the nuclear device inside the Hellmouth…"

"Appeared Sir?" Riley asked.

"We did keep some light surveillance on the group. Their activity stayed confined to the Sunnydale area and they helped with the reconstruction efforts of the town. This Faith Lehane left Sunnydale and was in Los Angeles trying very hard to stay off the grid and apparently mourning the loss of this Michael person. Certain people at certain high levels decided that this group had done the country and the world a great service and that they should be left alone."

"What's changed now?" asked Riley.

"2 weeks ago, Buffy Summers went to LA and located Faith Lehane. Both of them returned to Sunnydale. Since then there has been an increase in activity in their base of operations. They refer to it as the "Warehouse". This "Warehouse" has some heavy-duty state of the art security. We cannot get inside to get a look… and this worries us."

"And this has something to do with DOD computer networks being hacked? How do we know that they have been compromised?" Riley asked.

The General replied, "We have no definite proof, but there have been certain "anomalies" in data from our networks. The nuclear weapon inventory count was the starting point. We have also noticed that computer data related to Sunnydale and the battle has either gone missing or become corrupted…"

"Riley, you can see our dilemma. We have a group with unknown allegiances that has a lot of firepower and can apparently access our computer networks at will. We need to get a handle on this group and situation."

"Are you planning an active intervention? Where do I fit in?" asked Riley.

"Nothing extreme is planned at the moment, but we are looking at all contingencies. With our networks potentially compromised, we are limited in what we can do or say electronically… Where you come in… We want you to go back to Sunnydale."

Riley looked at the General in shock, "You want me back in Sunnydale? Sir?"

"Yes, we want you to take a small team and keep an eye on this group. Evaluate and determine their intentions. You know this Buffy person, so you seem to be the best candidate. If you can get a look inside this "Warehouse" that would be of immense value." the General replied.

"If our networks and communications have been compromised, how do I communicate and report info?" Riley asked.

"You will use hard copies and couriers… If there is a requirement, due to an emergency, to make contact, there will be a one-time code that you can use over the phone or electronic networks to communicate with us… Your briefing package is outside with my assistant in hard copy format… Review all information and make sure none of it is transmitted electronically. Understood?"

The General stood up to signal that the meeting was at an end. Riley stood up and came to attention and saluted.

"Understood Sir!"

"Dismissed and good luck soldier." The General said.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_**Sunnydale, California – March 19, 2004 – 1422 PST**_

"Owww! Damn it!"

"Take it easy Willow… you'll get the hang of it." Kennedy said.

"Agreed… You have made remarkable progress in this short period time…" came the electronic voice of Adriana.

"You think I could get it right by now…" Willow said with exasperation in her voice.

"Listen to me… You are doing great my sweet Wiccan vixen…" Kennedy said with a smile and laugh.

This brought a smile to Willow's face. After Tara had been killed, Willow had thought that she would have never found someone to love again, but then she found Kennedy. It only took another apocalypse to find love and happiness…

Willow concentrated again. She was trying to open a portal to another dimension/universe. She had been doing a lot of studying and on paper it seemed easy enough, but the practical application part… that was a little trickier.

Willow and Kennedy were down in the workout area of the warehouse. It had been decided that would be the best place to attempt using magic to open portals.

Ever since the discovery that Michael had survived the nuke blast in the Hellmouth and appeared to have found a way out of there, everyone was working tirelessly to find some way to help him and bring him home. Willow had been reading up on anything and everything related to dimensional travel, portals, etc. Adriana had scoured all electronic libraries and databases around the world for any information that could help Willow.

It was slow going and frustrating work for Willow.

Kennedy could see that Willow was getting frustrated. She tried to get Willow to calm down.

"Just relax, focus and try again." Kennedy urged Willow.

"It's not like I can just say something like, "Sit ignis" and fire will appear…" Willow said.

"uuuhh… Willow…" Kennedy said pointing at the small fire that had just started behind Willow.

Kennedy got up and ran over to stomp out the small fire, before the fire sprinklers went off.

Willow said as she let out a sigh, "At least the men got the easy job to work on…"

* * *

"So do you guys know what you are actually doing?" asked Anya

Anya was watching Xander and Giles assemble the beacons using the instructions and parts that had been provided by Adriana. The beacons would broadcast an IFF signal on a frequency that Michael's battle armor suit could pick up. The range of the broadcast would depend on the terrain and other factors, but Adriana assured everyone that it would broadcast out to a minimum of 500 kilometers.

"Shhhhhh…. Honey… Men working…" Xander replied as he was looking at the instructions and the pieces that needed assembly.

Xander looked blankly at the instructions and he knew that he was going to have to ask for Adriana's help, but his male ego refused to admit failure…

Xander leaned into Giles, who had an equally puzzled look on his face and whispered, "Uhhh… Giles? Do we know what we're doing?"

Giles just stared at all the parts and scratched his head.

* * *

Buffy and Faith were meeting in the warehouse conference room. They were discussing plans and the current status on their search for Michael.

Buffy noticed that ever since they had found out that Michael may be alive, Faith had gotten more anxious and impatient. Faith was like a caged tiger. She wanted to get going and find Michael.

Buffy said, "Willow is still having problems opening and keeping the portals open, but I know her and she will come through…"

Buffy continued, "Xander and Giles are assembling the beacons per Adriana's instructions. I'll have to check on them and see how things are going…"

"So let's get this show on the road…" Faith said impatiently.

"Patience… Going to other dimensions is not like going to the corner store… We need to plan and be careful…" Buffy said responding to Faith's impatience.

Buffy continued, "We need to decide who is going through the portals to setup the beacons…"

"No decision required… I am… End of story" said Faith.

"umm.. Okay..." Buffy replied with hesitation sounding in her voice.

Faith saw that Buffy was showing some doubts, "Relax B… I have picked out a team. It will be me and four potentials from my fire team… We go through… Setup the beacon… Look around… Find Michael… Come home and we live happily ever after… No sweat."

Buffy responded to Faith's view on the mission they were taking on, "Faith you know it may take a while to find him… It's not as easy as…"

Adriana's voice interrupted Buffy, "I am sorry to interrupt your meeting, but I just discovered something important."

Buffy took a moment to recover from the interruption, "What's up Adriana?"

"We have a problem in Sunnydale…" replied the AI.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_**Location: Unknown – Date: Estimated March 24, 2004 (Sunnydale) – Time: Unknown**_

_We were conducting a field exercise… The candidates had been split into two teams… My team was to defend the objective… I had setup in a position to over watch the path I thought the attacking force would take and I waited… It wasn't long until I saw a squad moving down the path right into my sights… It was too perfect… I had them… I setup for the kill… It was all in the timing… Thwap! Thwap! I suddenly felt shots hitting me… I had been tagged with two kill shots… How? I managed to turn around and there standing behind me was John-117… I could only watch in shame as John lead his team to take the objective from behind and win… I had failed my team… I had failed…_

I awoke from the dream… As I opened my eyes, I was greeted by my suit's system status lights… Most of them were flashing yellow… some were red… too few were green. I got up and stretched. I did a quick scan of the area with my suit sensors… That was one of the systems that was flashing yellow… My scan range effectiveness was only about 65% now. I performed my daily routine… I performed a diagnostics on my suit (how I wished Adriana was here to help) and did an ammo and weapons check… Half a clip loaded plus one full spare clip for my M41A. One grenade left for the grenade launcher and no other grenades. Shotgun with 8 rounds loaded and 4 spare rounds and my combat knife.

Everything looked good or at least no worse than yesterday. I removed my helmet and dug out one of my few remaining emergency meal bars. I had been lucky most of the time to find a local food and water source, but I wanted to limit my exposure to any bugs from the local flora and fauna.

I finished up my breakfast and put my helmet back on… I brought up my suit's chronometer display. On the display it showed me how long I had been in this universe and the overall time that had passed since I had sealed the Hellmouth with a nuke. I had been here in this universe on this world for just over a week. It had been nearly 11 months since the Battle of the Hellmouth.

I was still amazed that I had actually survived, but I had been lucky with the location of my jump and the timing and combination of my suit's armor-lock and the bubble shield when the nuke went off. The combination of those shields saved my life, but my armor-lock system was now fried…

That I hadn't been crushed by the debris of the collapsing Hellmouth was another stroke of luck. I was able to easily dig myself out afterwards with minimal damage to my suit armor and systems…

The Hellmouth… I had been lucky there. After I dug myself out, there were still quite a number of Ubervamps moving around and to say they were in a bad mood would have been a minor understatement. I had used most of my remaining ammo fending off wave attacks and had met the last few waves in hand to hand combat. After that those few remaining Ubervamps (or at least the ones I could see) gave me a wide berth and avoided me.

The First appeared to me several times in Faith's image, but its impact was diminished on me as I knew that she was alive and safe on the other side of the collapsed Hellmouth. The last time The First appeared and taunted me about being trapped in Hell and that my soul would burn, I told The First that I had been in worse places and it would probably be in The First's best interests if I found a way out rather than taking up permanent residence as the Ubervamps would become an extinct species rather than just an endangered one…

I setup a beacon to broadcast a warning in the off chance someone decided to try and dig out the Hellmouth… I explored through the Hellmouth and I had been resigned to being marooned in the Hellmouth. But once again Lady Luck smiled on me. I stumbled across another portal… I setup another beacon in the off chance that anyone (especially Faith) managed to hear it. I decided to gamble and pass through the portal.

I wondered at first why the Ubervamps did not follow me through the portal or use this world for feeding, but I soon discovered that the Sun never set on this world. The Ubervamps were trapped where they were… Good luck for me… bad luck for them.

I wandered the constant Sun lit world for weeks. It appeared that I was sentenced to exile when my luck changed again. I came upon a strange looking old man. The old man was living in the ruins of what appeared to have been some sort of temple or shrine. I had been able to communicate with the old man. The old man said he had been waiting a long time for someone like me to pass through here… He said he could open the doorway to another world for me. The old man told me that once I got there I would have to search out a mage that could give me the way to find the portals and how to open them. I asked if there was any way that he could return me to where I belonged. The old man could not answer my question, but maybe the mage in the other world could help me on my quest…

I passed through the portal he opened to find myself on another world. There I had rescued a hunting party that had been attacked by some sort of Hellhound. In gratitude the hunters had invited me back to their village and I was able to spend some time there to rest and recoup. I asked about the mage and the villagers could only say that there had been a legend about a mage living in the mountains… The villagers could only provide the directions to the mountains, but that according to the legends there were signs that could guide seekers to the mage…

I headed to the mountains for my quest for the mage. I had to endure harsh weather and creatures, but again luck showed me the way and I eventually came upon a broken down hut high in the mountains. I had found the mage! I was able to communicate to the mage and asked if there was any way I could get home.

The mage had told me that it was impossible to know from which world I was from to send me directly home, but he was able to tell me how I could travel between the worlds. He explained that each world and universe co-existed but are still separate. I asked how that would help me and my situation. He continued to explain that the different universes touched at certain points and at those points the layers between them were the "thinnest". He said that there were markers in each world to mark the areas that I could open portals to travel through. He showed me what I had to look for. He said that the markers on the other side would be "close" to where I would come through, but he could not provide any details to distance… only that they would be close. That would require me to spend time searching for the markers on each world in each universe I travelled to.

The mage said that once I found the marker I had to perform a ceremony and say some words… The portal would only be open for a few seconds, so I could not hesitate… Saying magic words and performing ceremonies… That seemed silly to me, but then again I had been in hell and fighting vampires! Who was to say that the ceremonies I did in the military did not look silly to someone else from a different universe.

The mage opened the portal for me to pass through. I thanked him and he wished me a safe journey and hoped that I found what I was looking for. I asked him if he knew where I was going. He said only that I would end up where I needed to be. I stepped through the portal…

I found myself on this world. I had been searching for the marker with no luck so far. I was starting get a little frustrated, but I continued searching. Maybe today would bring me closer to getting home and getting back to Faith.

"Faith" I muttered to myself as I searched this world…

Her name spoke of both my hope and determination to get home. That was funny. I used to think of nothing but getting back to my home universe and the UNSC and fighting the Covenant. But now my home was with Faith… When I thought she had died… I had never felt anything like it in my life. I was lucky that I had found her and had gotten to spend time with her. It only took travelling to another universe to find her.

Finally! Up ahead only a couple of kilometers away I could see the marker through my helmet optics. Looks like my luck was changing again.

I moved at a quicker pace and got to the marker in a couple of minutes. I still found it hard to believe that here universes touched and I could pass through.

I started to perform the ceremony that was needed to open the portal. I was kind of glad that none of my fellow Spartans were here to see me perform a magic ceremony… I would never hear the end of it…

Starting at the front of the marker, I circled it three times clockwise and then reversed direction and circled twice counter clockwise until I ended back in front of the maker. I then kneeled in front of the marker with my head bowed and said the words the mage had told me to say.

"Patefacio is limina!"

I heard a rumble and I looked up. I could see the air shimmering and the opening of the portal…

"Damn!" It actually worked… Luck on was on my side. The portal opened as big as it was going to get and I only had a few seconds to go through… I moved quickly and passed through the portal to another universe and hopefully I would be lucky and it would get me home to Faith or at least a little closer…

Luck… I had to shake my head at my luck… There was only one person that I ever knew that seemed to have more luck than me…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_**Sunnydale, California – March 25, 2004 – 1342 PST**_

Riley was having a moment. Since he had arrived back in Sunnydale, he was full of mixed-emotions and memories from the time he had spent here… especially with Buffy.

He loved his wife, but you never forget someone like Buffy and here he was. He was tracking Buffy and the others in the rebuilding town. He still had a hard time grasping what had gone on here and that people he knew were in the middle of it.

He was keeping a passive tail on Buffy. For him and his team it was a difficult assignment, with the potential of all military and civilian communication channels having been compromised trying to track and report the activity of those people was hard, not impossible, but still hard.

His team had identified everyone connected with the warehouse, but there were still holes (very big holes) in what they knew and what they didn't know.

Riley had been tempted several times to just go up to the gate of that warehouse and ask Buffy what the hell was going on… But that idea quickly passed.

Riley was walking a thin line. He didn't want to see Buffy and her group get involved or hurt in an open confrontation with the US government, but at the same time he understood why Washington was scared. There had been open war here with nuclear weapons used and the people at the top had no control over it and face the facts, Buffy was never one for playing nice inside the system…

* * *

Today, Riley had followed Buffy (at a safe distance) to the shopping district of Sunnydale. It appeared that she was just doing some window shopping. He was far enough back that he felt he couldn't be spotted by her.

Buffy was going in and out of stores in no particular pattern. Riley got hung up in a crowd of shoppers and lost sight of Buffy. He quickened his pace to catch up with her and turned the corner where he had last seen her… She was gone. He cursed himself for blowing the tail. Riley turned around to head back to his vehicle. When he turned around he was greeted by the site of Buffy standing in front of him…

* * *

In retrospect, Riley should have had one of his other team members tail Buffy, but maybe he subconsciously wanted this confrontation…

"Hello Riley… Long time no see…" Buffy said to a startled Riley.

"Uhhh… Hi Buffy… How are things?" How are you keeping?" even as Riley said it, he knew how lame it all sounded.

"How about we cut to the chase? Why are you here?" Buffy asked.

"Can we not discuss this now out in the middle of the street?" Riley replied still trying to stay somewhat discreet.

"How about a coffee then and we can discuss matters?" Buffy offered.

Riley agreed and they moved to a secluded table inside a nearby coffee house.

Buffy started off the conversation, "How's the wife?"

"She's doing fine… How are Dawn, Willow, Xander and Giles doing?" responded Riley.

"I think you know how everyone is doing… since you are spying on us!" Buffy replied.

"_Straight to the chase as always._" thought Riley.

Riley responded, "Okay no holding back, all cards on the table here. I know what went down here and so does the US government."

Buffy shrugged with indifference.

"Buffy, you don't realize how serious this is. What happened here… you guys fought and defeated a force of demons from hell… you even used a nuclear weapon…" Riley spoke in a pleading tone.

"Why should I care what the US government thinks?" asked Buffy.

Riley was alarmed by Buffy's indifference, "You should care… Your little war here has scared them and I mean scared them to their toes… They are scared of you and your group… I mean it Buffy… They are considering all options…"

"So what can we do?" Buffy asked.

"Tell me everything…" Riley said

"… and?" Buffy replied as she could sense that Riley wanted more.

"I want a tour of your warehouse…" responded Riley.

* * *

"So basically you want to know the whole story and a tour?" Buffy asked.

"Yes… and no holding back." Riley responded.

Buffy seemed to ponder Riley's request for a moment.

"Tomorrow 1:00pm you come to the front gate of the warehouse… Alone!" Buffy said and she emphasized the last part for Riley's benefit.

"Thanks Buffy… Can I ask how you knew I was here and tailing you?" Riley asked.

Buffy just smiled and said, "All will be revealed tomorrow…"

* * *

The next day, Riley was at the gate at exactly 1:00pm. He was just standing by the gate, when suddenly a voice called out from the security box startling Riley, "Welcome Agent Finn.".

The gate started to open, the female sounding voice coming over the security box said, "You may come in, please head for the north-west fire access door. It will be unlocked. Buffy will be there to greet you."

"Uhhh Thanks." replied Riley as he regained his composure and made his way to the door.

* * *

"He's in!"

"Sweet! Who would have thought that the boss would have just strolled in through the front gate"

The two agents that had setup in an observation post 500 meters from the front gate were keeping an eye on Riley and taking photos of the warehouse.

"We should have tried to go for a wire on the boss, so we had at least ears inside…" One of the agents remarked.

"You heard the boss, this was as far as we were to go… Just getting him in there may mean that we can go home sooner." replied the other agent.

"Wait… The door is opening… It's Buffy…" The one agent was taking photos with an old style camera using a huge telephoto lens…

The agent was clicking away when he suddenly exclaimed, "Damn!"

"What's wrong?" asked the other agent.

"Here…" as the agent handed the camera over.

The other agent was puzzled at first, but when he looked through the view port of the camera, he was greeted by the image of Buffy apparently directly waving hello to them.

* * *

Riley was just feet from the door when it opened. Buffy was in the doorway.

"Hey Buffy…"

"Hey Riley… I thought we agreed for you to come alone?"

"I'm alone…" replied Riley getting a little nervous with Buffy.

"Yea… Right…" Buffy stepped out the door and started waving.

"I just thought I would make sure I would give your guys a decent photo…" she said in a sarcastic tone.

Riley couldn't help but be impressed that his observation team's cover had been blown. They were over 500 meters away and running completely dark and yet they had been detected. The security system on this warehouse must cover a larger area than they suspected.

"Okay I'm busted… But it is standard operating procedure for my team to make sure that I'm alright… Are we still good on this?" Riley said sheepishly trying to explain.

"If this wasn't so important, I would kick your ass back out the gate…" Buffy replied.

Riley released an inner sigh and entered the door into the warehouse…

* * *

Riley entered the warehouse… He couldn't help but be impressed. As he walked through the building, he could see it was busy with activity... They were all women and very young from the looks of them. Everything was organized and the women moved with purpose. The warehouse was well-laid out… Riley thought, "_Whoever organized this sure knew what they were doing…_" Riley had a suspicion that it was this Spartan… This Michael… that had arranged everything.

Riley followed Buffy through the warehouse to a room that from appearances had been setup to use as a conference room. As Riley entered, he noticed that people were already in there and seated apparently waiting for his arrival. He was greeted by Willow, Xander, Giles and Faith.

Riley spoke, "Hello everyone…"

Buffy said, "Take a seat Riley and we can get this over with…"

Riley sat down…"_Well this is no time to hold back…_" he thought.

Riley spoke first, "I'm here because the US Government wants to know what the hell went on here and what is going on now?"

Buffy replied, "So you and they want to know what is going on? Do you think you can handle the truth?"

Everyone at the table let out a small chuckle and smiled except for Riley, who was just puzzled.

"What truth?" asked a puzzled Riley.

"Our truth…" The voice seemed to come from the room itself.

Riley was even more confused now. The voice sounded familiar… He recognized it as the voice on the security box… but then it came to him where else he had heard that voice…

"You must be Adriana…" Riley said taking a stab in the dark with his guess.

"Correct Agent Finn… You would appear to be as smart as your personnel record and Buffy give you credit for." said the voice again with a hint of humor in it.

"So what are you?" asked Riley.

A hologram suddenly appeared at the front of the room… It was a female form and was a bluish red color… The eyes in the hologram showed intelligence and understanding… This was more than some parlor trick. The female form looked at Riley and said, "I am pretty much the most advanced piece of technology on this planet…"

* * *

"Why are you here?" Riley asked getting straight to the point once again.

The AI chuckled, "You may want to get more comfortable… as it is quite a long story."

Adriana proceeded to explain who she was and who Michael was. She explained briefly (leaving out major details) about the Spartan program. She explained about the Human-Covenant war and how Michael and her ended up in Sunnydale. She went over how Michael and her had prepared and watched over Buffy and the others and had finally revealed themselves when The First was going to unleash the Turok-Hans and Bringers on the world.

Riley was having a hard time grasping what he was hearing… "So what you are saying is that Adriana is an AI from the future…"

"Right…" said Buffy.

"But, not our future… some alternate universe future…" Riley said. As he heard himself say it aloud… it even sounded crazy to him.

"That is correct…" responded Adriana.

"…and this Spartan… This Michael is some sort of cyborg?" Riley said.

"NO! He is a man! He's no cyborg… or robot… He is a man… A better man than you…" Faith shouted.

"Take it easy Faith… Riley didn't mean anything by it…" Buffy said trying to calm Faith down, but she also glared at Riley.

Riley felt Faith's rebuke and Buffy's glare and flushed red. He could see that he had touched a nerve with Faith and he had to tread carefully… He remembered the transcript from the drone and he should have been more careful in his remarks regarding Michael…

Adriane responded… "Michael and the Spartan program are humans that have received certain enhancements and augmentation to allow them to wear their specially designed combat armor. They are still human, it is just that they are now…"special"."

Riley knew that Adriane was holding back info on this "Spartan" program, but that he had gotten this much info was a minor miracle…

"So what's next for your merry little band?" asked Riley trying to gather more info.

Buffy replied, "We're asking you to tell the government to leave us alone… We have no quarrel with them…"

"Huh… You're kidding right? After you fight a war in Sunnydale and blow up half the town and then to top it off you steal a nuclear weapon and then detonate it… on US soil! You expect the government to just sit back and let you go on your way…" Riley laughed as he said it.

"Yes…" was all that Buffy said.

"There's something else going on? What is it?" demanded Riley.

"You're not really in a position to demand anything…" Xander responded.

Faith spoke. She was trying to keep her emotions in control, "Michael is alive… He was in the Hellmouth, but he found a way out to another dimension, universe or whatever you want to call it… He's out there and we are trying to find him and bring him home…"

Riley was dumbfounded… This Spartan… This Michael must be one tough customer to have gone into the Hellmouth, set off a nuke, survive and get out.

Buffy spoke, "Riley… Just tell the government to leave us alone… We won't do anything here in the US… We are only going to other universes… dimensions looking for Michael. Please help us…"

Riley looked at Buffy and could see that she was being upfront with him.

"I don't know what I can do… Your little war here scared a lot of people high up…" Riley said.

Adriana spoke… "How about a trade then?"

This perked Riley's interest. "What kind of trade are we talking about?" he asked.

"Information." Adriana replied.

With that Giles slid a flash drive across the conference table to Riley. He picked it up and looked at it.

"What's on it?" he asked.

"A sign of good faith…" Adriana said.

Riley looked on puzzled.

Adriana continued, "I have provided information and data on "certain" scientific projects that the US military is currently working on in the research and development phase. That information will allow you to cut at a minimum five years off of development and save millions if not billions of dollars…"

Riley whistled at that statement…

"Why not just give us the more advanced weapon and systems data?" Riley asked.

"Because you are not ready…" Adriana said plainly.

"That won't go over very well." Riley replied.

"This is not a negotiation… This is THE deal." replied the AI.

Adriana continued, "You should know that I have access to every computer network on the planet… I know and can control every piece of data. My allegiances and loyalties are to a government and military organization that will not exist for several hundred years and to a person… my friend… that is trapped and trying to get home… Do not think you can stop me as I am aware of your computer monitoring efforts and your attempts to trap my code…"

Riley gulped at the thought of this AI controlling everything…

Adriana spoke again, "I will allow one "consideration"… You and your team may remain in Sunnydale and continue to report on our actions to the military and government… You may remain our liaison, but you will not be stationed in our base. You can inspect our base, but only after asking for our permission… Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand and will relay your position. They won't like it, but they will accept it... I think." Riley said as he looked at the flash drive again and stood up and put the drive in his pocket.

"Before I leave, just one last question Adriana?" Riley asked.

"Yes?" replied the AI.

"How did you know that we were here in Sunnydale?" Riley said.

"Meal expenses… Your meal expenses were processed through the military payroll system." Adriana said with a smile.

Riley could only stare and blink at the AI in disbelief.

* * *

Xander escorted Riley out of the conference room to the building exit. Adriana monitored Riley leaving the grounds…

Giles, Faith and Buffy were left in the conference room with Adriana's hologram.

Giles spoke first, "I don't know about this… Playing hard ball with the government could blow back on us…"

"We need to get them to back off to buy us time to look for Michael…" replied Faith

Adriana replied, "You are both correct… This is a most delicate situation and we have to tread carefully and continue to monitor it."

"When you threatened Riley and the entire US government and military I almost believed that you were serious… That was some kind of bluff." Buffy said.

"Who said I was bluffing…" was all that Adriana said.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

I came through the portal into another world… It took me a moment to shake off the effects. I did a check of my suit systems… Whatever energy fields made up these portals between the universes, my suit did not react well with it. It seemed that every time I went through one of these portals, my suit systems degraded further. I was getting more yellow and red flashing status lights on my helmet display and there were no green ones anymore. I didn't know how much longer or how many portals I could go through before my suit completely failed. I was not looking forward to that day.

Either way, my suit was still functional (for now).I was on a new world and I had to find the marker symbol to show me the next point that I could open a portal to the next world.

The world I was on was a forest world. The trees were huge and green and there was a lot of brush. My motion sensors didn't detect anything, but they were degrading and were becoming of limited use due to the lack of range and stability. My search for the portal marker would take longer due to the forest and brush limiting my range of vision, but I still had to look for it. I began my quest.

I decided to head for the top of a range of hills sticking through the forest. From there I could get a better view of my search area and who knows maybe I would get lucky and I would spot the marker from there…

A couple of hours later, I had reached the top of the hill range… It gave me a commanding view of the surrounding area. The other side of the hill dropped into a valley-like bowl. It was still heavily forested, but in the distance I could see a huge lake… The lake was at least 10 kilometers from where I was. At least there was water… I spotted something rising from the trees near the lake. I used my helmet optics to zoom in… It was just at extreme range for me to see… It was smoke! I scanned and I was able to make out buildings and movement… There was a village and people there… I panned my view to try and see more…

"What the hell?" I said aloud.

As I panned my view to the right of the village, I saw a building… It was more like a tower that sat on a large base structure… It was of different shape and construction than the buildings I could see in the village. It could not have been built by those inhabitants of the village… I tried to zoom in and get a better view of the building's details… "Damn!" I was too far to get any details, but the building had to be at least 4-5 stories tall. There was something about the building… something familiar… It tugged on my memory, but I couldn't recall what it was.

I was going to have to get closer anyway to check out the village and its inhabitants and especially that other structure too. I started my hike down from the hill to the village. I wasn't too much in a hurry, so I was just moving at a Spartan walking pace.

I had only been walking in the direction of the village for about 30 minutes, when my audio sensors picked up human screams followed by a roaring sound. I sprinted towards the sounds to investigate…

* * *

Tala was searching through the woods for her brother and his friends. She was upset as they had been told many times not to wander off from the village, but they were young and boys, so they did not listen as they should…

Tala was feeling the added burden as she had become the elder child in her family after her older brother had died during a hunt over the winter… She now had to watch out for her younger siblings, which included two younger sisters and her currently missing precocious younger brother. She didn't feel it was fair to have this burden on her as she was only 18 seasons old.

She was calling out her brother's name "Adahy! Where are you? You know that you shouldn't be out this far from the village." She spied a glance of Adahy with his friends and saw him laugh and run off further into the forest.

"Adahy… You are so in trouble now!" Tala said with much frustration in her voice and ran off after the boys.

Adahy was running and laughing with his friends through the woods. He caught his foot on a tree root and tripped and fell into a small hollow. He did not hurt himself other than a few scraps and damage to his pride. As he crawled out of the hollow, he realized that he was now alone. The sudden realization of his aloneness caused him to shudder. Luckily he could hear his sister calling his name faintly in the distance.

Adahy finally decided that it was time to go home back to the safe confines of the village.

"Tala… I'm over here!" he yelled out.

Tala heard her brother call and she responded back to try and find which direction he was in. They kept yelling to each other until Tala came upon her brother standing beside the hollow with a few scrapes and bruises and feeling a bit embarrassed.

Tala admonished her brother, "Adahy… You know that you are not to go out this far from the village by yourself! You know the warnings about the forest demon…"

"Tala those are only stories told by old people… There are no forest demons…" Adahy replied with the inexperience of youth.

"Either way you are in trouble with both mother and father when we get back…" Tala responded.

As they both started to make their way back, through the forest, to the village, they did not realize that hungry cold eyes watched them from the bushes…

* * *

Tala and Adahy were about half way back to the village when they entered a small clearing in the forest.

Tala suddenly stopped… Adahy bumped into his sister. "Hey watch where you are going!"

"Shhhh! Something is following us!" Tala said in a hushed whisper.

Her brother suddenly huddled closer to her. They could now hear movement in the woods…

Something big was coming… Tala moved herself and her brother to the center of the clearing and turned to face the direction that the sound was coming from. She had a bad feeling about this… She pushed her brother behind her to keep her between him and whatever was in the forest. With her right hand she drew her knife. She knew that it was a feeble defense, but it was all she had. She had considered running, but she didn't want to chance being separated from her brother and leaving him behind…

The creature burst from the bushes into the clearing and Tala and Adahy could not help but scream in terror as the creature roared at them…

* * *

It was a creature from their nightmares… It was a forest demon that they called a Gorack. The stories told of how these creatures would feast on the skin and blood of the people, but Tala didn't really care about what the stories said right now… She was facing one and was about to be its meal…

The creature was on four legs and then stood up on its two rear legs as it approached them… Tala's only hope was to distract the Gorack long enough for her brother to run away and get back to the village and safety… Tala turned to keep facing the Gorack as it circled its prey.

"Get ready to run when I say." Tala whispered to her brother.

Adahy shook his head, "No… I won't leave you sister!"

"You must… Only one of us may have a chance to escape!" Tala reprimanded her brother.

It was at this point that Tala became a little distracted. The Gorack saw the opening and turned and leaped in one motion to strike down its prey… Tala saw death coming for her… She kept her body between the Gorack and her brother to protect him. She tensed up for the expected blow…

Suddenly there was a roaring sound unlike anything she had ever heard. She saw that something was hitting the Gorack as it howled in pain. Whatever had hit the creature deflected its direction enough that it came crashing down on the ground besides Tala and Adahy. They both turned towards where the other sound had come from and saw a huge man wearing a strange outfit with no face and a huge golden eye on the edge of the clearing…

Tala and Adahy were both in shock and they did not know what to make of this strange man-creature. They were both tense until the man-creature spoke to them.

"Is everyone alright?" asked the man-creature.

Tala was about to respond when another Gorack came suddenly out of the forest and struck the man-creature, throwing him across the clearing…

* * *

I had followed the screams and roaring to a clearing. My sensors were failing and I was only getting random readings. The sensor display was cutting in and out and only giving me an effective range of less than 100 meters. I finally got a hard return and got three targets up. The computer had designated two of the targets as green for friendly and one red for hostile.

I rushed and entered a clearing just as a creature, the likes I had never seen before, was leaping to strike down two humans. I quickly noted, as I swung my pulse rifle to engage the hostile target that one of the humans was a female around 18-20 years of age. She was attractive looking. I never use to notice things like that until after I meet Faith. The other human was a young boy around 9-11 years. The female… the young woman… had drawn a knife of primitive make and was shielding the boy with her body. It was a brave, but futile gesture against the creature they were facing.

The creature leaped to pounce on the two people, I drew quick aim and emptied the last of my pulse rifle clip into the creature and it fell to the ground beside the woman and boy. I saw them turn and look at me with a look of shock that I was getting used to seeing from people when they first see me.

I asked them if they were alright. I could see the young woman about to respond when I got hit from behind and thrown through the air…

* * *

I hit the ground about 15 meters from where I had been standing. It felt like I had just been run over by a tank… My suit systems were already failing and this hit sent more systems from yellow to flashing red… I stood and could feel the pain in my side. I had broken a rib. I could feel my suit deploy the medical biofoam… "Damn that hurts…" I muttered to myself.

I turned to face the creature. It looked to be like a combination between a bear and a hellhound. It was at least 9 feet long. Whatever this creature was, it was big, strong and nasty. The good news was that the creature was hovering around me and staying away from the civilians as it had perceived me as the main threat… The bad news was that when I got hit I had lost my grip on my pulse rifle and my shotgun had gotten torn loose. All I had was my combat knife and strength.

I drew my combat knife from its shoulder sheath and crouched down into a knife fighting stance. I stayed on the balls of my feet to be mobile and react quickly… My suit warning lights were flashing red, but I ignored them…

The creature rushed at me. I managed to sidestep its rush and slash with my knife. I scored a hit and the creature howled…

* * *

Tala could not help but be fascinated and awed by the man-creature that was facing down the Gorack. She saw how the man-creature had pulled a knife and had easily dodged the Gorack's charge. She heard the Gorack howl in pain as the man-creature's knife had struck a blow against it. The two creatures turned and face each other down again… This was like a battle from the stories told by the elders during village celebrations… Those stories told of great warriors that had come and built the temple by the shore… Those warriors had not been related to the people… Could this be one of them that has returned?

* * *

I turned and faced the creature. This was no dumb animal… that made it even more dangerous. I could see in its eyes that it was sizing me up for its next attack. I had to stay mobile and unpredictable, but I knew I had to end this fight soon…

I faked a lunge in to try and draw the creature in closer… The creature did not go for the fake… The creature then stood on its hind legs to face me… This wasn't good… I was going to have to get in closer now… I slashed with my combat knife… I caught the creature across its left arm with a deep slash… The creature roared and swung with its right arm. I caught a glancing blow across the helmet that spun me around… I quickly regained my balance, but the creature was on me fast and hit me straight on with its claws…

I felt the impact on my armor… Damn! This creature's claws could dent my armor… I was getting warning messages flashing on my helmet display…

******WARNING – ARMOR INTEGRITY COMPROMISED******

I felt another rib break… I didn't see the creature's other arm come up with the back swing…

* * *

Tala could only watch helplessly as the man-creature was getting mauled by the Gorack. She could not stand by and watch this. She had to do something… She told her brother to run back to the village to get help… Her brother at first hesitated, but then he ran off towards the village.

Tala looked around her and found some rocks on the ground. She picked them up and started yelling at the Gorack and throwing the rocks…

"Demon! Go away! Leave us alone!"

At first the Gorack did not notice the rocks hitting it as it was too involved with fighting the man-creature… That changed as one of the rocks hit one of the Gorak's open wounds. The Gorak howled and turned to face Tala. The creature moved towards her…

* * *

I was in rough shape… I had a number of serious wounds… The medical biofoam was doing its best to help, but all I could feel was the burning from it… I had dropped to one knee… I could hardly breathe… My suit was moments away from failing… I had to breathe… I took my helmet off and I took in the fresh air… I heard the creature roar… Something had distracted it… The young woman had drawn its attention and the creature was now moving on her… The creature had made a mistake… _Never turn your back on a wounded opponent_… I threw everything I had left into one last desperate move…

* * *

Tala was facing the Gorack… She had no plan other than trying to distract the beast. The creature had risen on its back legs again and was about to strike… Suddenly from behind, the man-creature had leaped on the Gorack's back and wrapped one of its arms around the Gorack's neck and with the other stabbed it with its knife… Tala was shocked. The man-creature was an actual man. She could see his face… She could see pain on his face from the wounds he had suffered, but she could see his eyes, as he held on to the Gorak and stabbed it. She could see the strength and determination… This man had great strength…

* * *

I had an iron lock around the creature's neck with my left arm and I stabbed its neck using the knife in my right hand. The creature howled and swung from side to side. The creature moved to the edge of the clearing and I was being swung into the trees. I could feel the blows from hitting the huge trunks and limbs of the trees… The creature was desperate, but I was not going to let go… I could feel my strength starting to go… My vision was starting to blur… I kept stabbing… I was losing feeling in my arms…

"I'm not letting go… I'm not letting go…" I said to myself. It became my mantra.

It was a battle of wills with this creature and I was not about to lose here… I was going to get home to Faith… This bastard was not going to beat me…

I could feel a shifting in the battle… The creature was slowing and it was weakening… The creature collapsed to its knees… I could touch the ground and get leverage now… I dug deep into what reserves I had left… I dropped my combat knife and put my right arm on the creature's head and applied pressure… I kept the pressure up… The creature tried to howl one last time… and I snapped its neck…

The creature slumped to the ground… I stood up… I looked at the young woman… My vision was blurring badly now and it was getting black around the edges… I was losing my balance… Darkness was awaiting me with its loving embrace…

My luck had run out...

I mumbled, "I'm sorry Faith… I guess I'm not making it home..."

And I collapsed…

* * *

Tala could only stand and stare at what she had just witnessed. She shook herself out her shock and moved warily to check on the man. The Gorack was quite dead, that was apparent, but what of the man?

She approached the man, who had collapsed on the ground. She could see his face… It was so different from those of her village… The face was white and the man appeared to be older… around her father's age… He had short dark brown hair that was greying at the sides. He had scars on his face… those scars could have only come from battle…

She stared at the man. He had collapsed face first in the ground. She could not tell if he was breathing at first as his chest did not move, but then she saw his nostrils move. She reached out to touch his body and it did not feel like that of her people. It felt of material that was similar to what the temple was built from… This proved it! He had to be one of the great warriors from the legends. Tala had to help this man… The temple guardian would be pleased. She tried to turn the man over to help him, but he was too heavy.

Tala was despairing that the man would die, when she heard movement in the bushes. She had an anxious moment that it could be another Gorack, but she was relieved when she saw that it was her brother and father with a party of warriors from the village.

The men froze at the sight of the fight as they entered the clearing. They could not believe what they were seeing. There lying in the clearing were two dead Goracks and there was Tala kneeling next to a giant man-creature.

"Tala! Come away from there!" her father demanded.

"No father! This man saved mine and Adahy's lives… I think this man is a warrior from the temple!" replied Tala.

That brought a whisper from the group of men. One of the warriors replied, "Then that is a better reason to leave him… We don't want to anger the Guardian!"

Tala got angry, "What do you think the Guardian will get, when he finds out that we didn't help his warrior?"

The men murmured amongst themselves…

"Enough! This man is hurt and needs our help! We must take him to the temple!" demanded Tala as she showed courage to speak out.

Tala's father stepped forward, "Tala is right. This "man" has killed two Goracks that have killed many of our people. It is only right that we help. What can we do to help?"

"We need to make a litter to drag this man to the temple as he is very heavy. It will require all of us to move him." Tala replied.

The men quickly organized, they sent a runner back to the village to let the people know what had happened and to bring more hands to move the wounded man.

* * *

I was going in and out of consciousness. I had glimpses of what was going on. I couldn't move anyway if I wanted to. My armor had gone into lockdown mode with system failure and my wounds were pretty severe.

I could hear voices talk and I could feel myself being dragged… I could see the outline of a tall structure through my blurred vision… It had to be the building I saw from the top of the hill range… I could feel myself starting to blackout again, but I caught bits of the conversations going on around me…

"…_Guardian_…"

"…_Leave this place_…"

"…_returning your warrior… to protect us_…"

"…_I have no warriors or no need for one_…"

I heard a female voice pleading, "… _help him_…_ he is dying_…"

I felt a warm glow of light bath me…

I heard the voice of the one they called the Guardian. The last word I heard before I entered the darkness again was..

"…_Reclaimer.._."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Willow was finally able to figure out the right combinations in her magic spells in order to open portals and keep them open. The main issue that faced Buffy, Faith and the others that once a team went through the portal to place a beacon… How would they get back?

Once Willow had solved the problem of opening stable portals for people to go through, it actually was very simple for people to return. Willow had just used Google and the info was found quickly… Adriana had to admit somewhat sheepishly that she had missed that information, but now that she knew what to look for, she had tracked down more information to help the search team to be able to return back home from the other universe.

As Willow explained it, that once a portal from one universe to another universe was opened. The portal would remain open for one hour, but after the portal closed the energy used to open the portal would "remain" and the barrier between the universes would be "weak". Over time this energy would eventually dissipate and the barrier would become strong again, but it would last long enough that a simple return spell could reopen the portal.

Each search team member was provided the return spell, so that any one of them could open the return portal. The information about the portal along with the return spell would be placed in the beacons that would be setup in each universe/dimension that Faith and her team travelled to. In the event that Michael was able to locate and find a beacon, he would have the information in order to come home…

The beacons themselves would broadcast a continuous signal on a channel that could only be picked up by a Spartan. The beacons could broadcast their signal out to a maximum of 1000 kilometers, but that could be cut in half depending on factors. Adriana had designed the beacons to be able to broadcast for two months before the batteries were drained…

It wasn't a perfect system, but considering that they were searching for one person among an endless number of universes it was at least a start…

Willow expressed some concern to Buffy over how Adriana had missed the return spell info and Buffy also expressed her own concern over Adriana's recent behavior when they had met with Riley… Willow had asked Adriana to run a self-diagnostics, but that had come back clean… Adriana informed everyone that in her just over 6 years of operation that she had never had any technical glitches, yet Willow still felt some unease as if Adriana was holding back some important information.

With the problems regarding portals between dimensions and universes resolved and the beacons built, it was time to start the actual search. There had been talk of sending multiple teams to search multiple universes simultaneously, but without a starting point of reference, they all agreed that it would be a waste of their limited resources (at least for the time being). Until they had some leads on where Michael was they would stay with just the one search team…

Faith was finally able to start her search for Michael…

* * *

_**Sunnydale, California – May 3, 2004 – 2149 PST**_

To say that Faith was getting frustrated would have been a slight understatement. By now they had opened portals and travelled to five different dimensions, universes or realities. Faith didn't really care what they were called. She had led her team of potentials through each time and they had done a look around and setup the beacons as Adriana had instructed them.

Each time the beacons went online, Faith prayed that they would get a signal from Michael. Each time they waited around for several hours with no response. Faith and her team would then re-open the portal using the return spell provided by Willow and come home.

Faith's impatience and frustration with the lack of progress was beginning to show in her behavior to the others. She had become more confrontational and she had outbursts of anger. The potentials were starting to get afraid of Faith. They had all heard about the stories of how Faith was before she went to prison and with her recent behavior, they didn't want to be on the receiving end of Faith's anger.

Buffy was concerned about the mental toll all this was having on Faith. She knew from first-hand experience and what she had seen of Faith in LA that Faith was walking a mental tight rope and she was starting to get obsessive in her search for Michael. Giles, Xander and Willow had expressed the same concern.

Willow had informed Buffy that Faith wanted to open more portals with less time between them for Willow to regain her strength. Willow had tried to explain to Faith about the energy and power required to open these portals and that she couldn't go any faster… Faith was getting quite "insistent" about it and if hadn't been for Kennedy stepping in to tell Faith to back off, who knows what would have happened…

Buffy knew she had to do something. One evening she found herself outside Faith's room, knocking on the door.

"Come in… It's open." Buffy heard through the door and she entered the room.

It was the same room that Faith and Michael had shared before the battle with The First. Buffy looked around as she had never been in the room. The room was sparse in furniture. There was the bed, a bedside table with lamp and a desk with a chair. The room may have been sparse, but it had a warm feeling to it. Faith was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"What's up B? What did I do now?" Faith spoke.

"What do you mean? Couldn't I just stop by to have a friendly chat with a fellow Slayer?" Buffy tried to reply innocently.

"B… It seems that whenever you stop by to "chat" it is always about something I said or did." replied Faith.

"Okay… Okay… I'm busted." Buffy paused, "Faith, I'm worried about you… This search for Michael is causing you no end of stress and pain… It is starting to affect your performance and how you are getting along with everyone else here… You are starting to become obsessive about finding Michael…"

Faith held her hand up to interrupt Buffy. "Can I show you something Buffy?"

Buffy nodded and Faith got up and went over to the desk. She opened a drawer and pulled out a large notepad. Faith handed it to Buffy and sat down again on the bed. Buffy hesitated for a moment.

"Go ahead and open it… Nothing embarrassing in it…" Faith said.

Buffy opened the notepad and was looking at drawings of Faith. Buffy flipped through the pages and all the pages were drawings of Faith's face. Buffy was familiar with art as her mother (when she was alive) use to run an art gallery and these drawings were very good. The details of the drawings were amazing… The eyes in each drawing seemed alive and expressed an emotion.

Buffy looked at Faith and asked, "Did Michael draw these?"

"Yes he did… Pretty good huh?" Faith replied.

"Pretty good? These are amazing! When did he draw them? When did he have time?" Buffy asked.

"He drew them before we even meet… He drew them from memory…" Faith said.

Faith told Buffy about how Michael when he was stranded on that planet in his universe before he came to their universe had dreams and he saw Faith in those dreams…

"He said he was here because I needed him and he needed me… He said he loved me because he saw himself in me all the good and all the bad…"

"Buffy he crossed universes… realities or whatever you want to call them to be with me… me… you understand!" Faith said with her eyes glistening.

"I never knew…" was all that Buffy could stammer out.

Buffy couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy towards Faith for having someone like Michael. He seemed to have all the good traits from the boys and men she ever had been with mixed together and then multiplied by 100 and then you still wouldn't have come close to him…

Faith continued, "You saw me in LA… You saw what I was doing and did… I gave up on Michael… I gave up on myself… When I saw that video and heard that he was alive, I swore that I would not give up on him again… I will find him… God as my witness… I will find him…"

Buffy heard the emotion and determination in Faith's voice and she looked at the notepad again. She understood what was going on and Buffy thought for a second to phrase her reply carefully.

"I understand where you are coming from Faith, but you've got to understand that it is going to take time to find Michael and we have to be realistic that we may never find him… You have to keep it together. It's what Michael would want…"

"I'll try Buffy… I'll honestly try, but I don't know…" Faith responded.

"Hey… At least it's a start. If you start to lose it, how about I give you a nudge?" Buffy said.

"Hell, if I lose it… You can punch me! Deal?" Faith said with a smile.

"Deal!" Buffy replied with her own smile.

* * *

Several days later, Willow was ready to open another portal. As Faith was getting her team ready to lead through the portal once Willow opened it, Xander and Buffy came over to see them.

"Standard drill… you go through the portal, setup the beacon, look around and…." Xander said.

"We know the drill… Xander." Faith interrupted.

"That may be, but we'll go over it again… You setup the beacon, look around. If you find anything you send someone back to let us know… If we don't hear anything from you in 12 hours our time, Willow will reopen the portal and we come after you… Understood?" Xander replied.

Faith and the four potentials in her team nodded their understanding and they finished their preparations. They went through their equipment and weapons check. Faith was all business in this regards.

Once Faith and her team had finished their checks, they stood off to one side in the training area and watched as Willow setup to open the portal. Willow sat in the middle of a circle drawn on floor that had a pentagram symbol drawn in it. There were candles burning at the five points. Willow began to concentrate and started casting the spell…

Willow shouted…

"…_Invoco deam_…"

"…_Meam audi vocationem_…"

"…_Aperuit ostium ut inveniam aliam quaerimus orbem_…"

"…_Aperi ego præcipio_…"

Everyone watched as the air in the training area started to swirl and change color… Suddenly there was a bright flash and a hole appeared hovering in the middle of the room…

That was the cue for Faith and her team to go. Faith looked towards Buffy and Xander. She nodded to them and led her team through the portal and another universe…

* * *

Faith exited the portal on a different world. If she wasn't so wrapped up looking for Michael she might actually enjoy this, she thought. It was always such a rush moving to a completely different world and universe.

Faith waited by the portal and watched as her team exited. She accounted for everyone and checked to see if everyone was okay.

The portal had opened in a small clearing. This time they had arrived on a world that was tree covered and had some low hills. They could see a huge mountain range far off in the distance sticking above the trees.

Faith gave her orders to the team, "Everyone knows the drill… Stacy… You and Lisa setup the beacon. Kylie… You and Madison do a sweep around the beacon site, no further than 200 meters for now… I'm going to check out that hill over that way and see if I can get a better view. Keep your coms open and holler out if you see anything… Okay?"

Faith got affirmatives from her team and they started going to work.

* * *

Stacy and Lisa started work setting up the beacon. They checked that the power supply was connected and that there was a green light on the panel. They were both veterans at doing this by now, so it didn't take long for them to place it in position, perform the required checks and press the transmit button.

"So this is at least a better world than the last one?" Lisa said.

"Yea, it took me a week to dry off from that swamp world… Yuck…" replied Stacy.

"I hear you…" responded Lisa with a nod.

"Do you think we'll find anything here or if we will ever find him?" asked Lisa.

"I've got a good feeling about this place… We'll find Michael… I'm sure of that!" Stacy replied getting somewhat emotional.

"Hey take it easy… You would think we were looking for your boyfriend…" replied Lisa feeling slightly uncomfortable.

Stacy blushed red and replied, "Well he did save our lives back in Sunnydale… We owe him something… We owe him not to give up…"

"Yeah I know… But we got to face facts this could take a long time…" Lisa said.

Kylie and Madison returned to the clearing from doing their sweep.

"You guys find anything?" Stacy asked.

"Nada… Looks all clear… Looks like a nice place… better than the last world…" Kylie responded.

Stacy and Lisa looked at each other and smiled…

"Any news from Faith?" asked Kylie.

"No word from our fearless leader…" replied Stacy with a bit a sarcastic tone.

"_I wonder what's bugging her?_" thought Kylie.

It was at this moment that Faith called in over their com headsets, "Guys… Get your assess over here to the hill that I am at... Hurry up!"

The four potentials looked at each other and headed towards the hill that Faith had gone to…

* * *

It took the potentials a good thirty minutes to reach Faith's position on the hill. When they all got up there, they were feeling quite winded.

Kylie was the first to catch her breath, "What's up Boss?" she asked.

Faith pointed in a direction and said, "Check that out…"

All the potentials looked in the direction that Faith was pointing and they could see smoke rising from the trees not too far away.

"Is it a forest fire?" asked Lisa.

"Look closer…" said Faith.

The potentials took another look and they could make out what appeared to be buildings through the trees.

"Looks like somebody lives there…" observed Lisa.

"First time that we actually ran into people… What do we do?" asked Madison.

"I say we go check it out…" Stacy added with enthusiasm. Kylie nodded her agreement with Stacy's statement.

"Hold on everyone… I agree we should go check it out, but let's take it a step at a time." Faith said.

"_Funny… You would think I would be the one rushing in there… and here I am all acting cautious and responsible… Maybe Buffy and Michael are rubbing off on me._" Faith thought.

Faith looked at her team, "Okay, here's the plan… we take it nice and easy and hike to the village and observe and find out if they are friendly…"

"If they are friendly, then what?" asked Kylie.

"We go in and ask if they have seen our lost seven foot tall Spartan…" Faith said with a smile.

* * *

Faith and her team had hiked towards the village they had seen. It took some time and they took up a position where they could observe the village from cover. They watched the village and the inhabitants appeared to look like normal people. The village appeared to be peaceful and there were no obvious threats visible. Faith didn't want to leave this much longer as it appeared to be late in the afternoon on this world. Faith didn't want to be tramping through the woods in the dark trying to look for the portal point.

"_In for a penny in for a pound…_" Faith thought.

Faith left the woods and headed for the village, she took Stacy and Lisa with her and left Kylie and Madison to provide cover if things went bad.

Faith and her two potentials came out of the woods on to a wide trail. They walked on the trail towards the village. Faith had instructed Stacy and Lisa to shoulder their weapons, so that they wouldn't look as threatening.

As the three women approached the village from the trail, people working on the edge of the village noticed the women approaching and they quickly sent word to the rest of the village. Soon a crowd was gathering as the women entered the village.

Faith stopped and looked around. She felt completely out of her element in this situation. She decided to break the ice.

"Hi… Does anyone understand me?" Faith addressed the crowd.

The crowd stared at her for a long minute. No one replied to her question.

Faith repeated, "Is there anyone here that understands me and will speak to me?"

Again no reply from the crowd and they continued to stare at her.

Faith was getting frustrated, "Doesn't anyone here speak English?" she said with exasperation. Stacy and Lisa just smiled at each other over Faith's obvious lack of diplomatic skills.

Finally an old man stepped forward. He continued to stare at Faith.

"So what's up with you pops?" Faith said just releasing more frustration from her lack of progress in communicating.

Faith was about ready to tell Stacy and Lisa to head back out of the village when the old man spoke…

"We understand you…" the old man said.

"Well that's good to hear…" Faith said.

"Is your name… Faith?" the old man asked as the crowd continued to stare at her.

Faith felt like she had just been punched. A part of her started to get excited and hopeful. Stacy and Lisa were in shock and their mouths were hanging open.

"Yessss… I am Faith." Faith replied trying to keep herself calm.

"How do you know my name?" Faith asked the old man.

"You are the one that the great warrior called the Spartan seeks to return to…" replied the old man.

Faith almost fainted…

* * *

Faith had recovered enough for the old man to tell his story. He told of how a hunting party from the village had been attacked by a vicious hell beast in the forest. The old man said that everyone in the hunting party would have been killed when suddenly the Spartan had shown up and had slain the hell beast.

The old man said that after the Spartan, who called himself Michael, had rescued the hunting party he had returned to this village. The old man said that the Spartan stayed with them for some time to rest. The Spartan had used his strength and knowledge to make life in the village better. He had saved people and fought off other hell beasts that had tried to attack the village.

Faith was dumbstruck by the story she heard. She could barely respond. She finally was able to ask, "How long ago was Michael here? When did he leave? Where did he go?"

The old man held up his hand to pause Faith from her barrage of questions, "The Spartan came to us eight full moon cycles ago… He left us three full moon cycles ago… He said he needed to get home… He said he had a promise to keep."

Faith's heart soared when she heard this.

The old man continued and explained how the Spartan had gone to the mountains to look for a mage that could help him travel to other worlds. They had provided the Spartan with the general directions to look for the mage and the Spartan had left and the villagers had not heard any more of the Spartan.

Faith was trying to digest all this. Michael was still alive and was looking for ways to get home. He must have found ways to travel between universes to have gotten to just this point, but something stilled nagged at Faith.

"So old man, you know about Michael, but how did you recognize me?" Faith asked.

The old man smiled and asked Faith to follow him. Faith and her potentials followed the old man down a trail that took them to a river that provided the village with fresh water. The villagers followed behind Faith and her potentials down to the river.

As the old man and Faith came out of the woods on to the river bank, the old man pointed in a direction. Faith looked to the point the old man was pointing at and on a huge boulder on the river bank there was a large picture that had been drawn on the side of the boulder that could be seen very clearly. Faith looked at her own face that had been drawn on the side of the boulder with her name…

* * *

Faith and her team left the village. Faith was in a hurry to get back to the portal site before dark. There had been some discussion among the team about what to do next. Kylie and Stacy were gung ho to keep tracking for Michael, they were even blabbing about going to the mountains to look for him and this mage. Faith put a stop to that talk.

"First thing is that Michael left here some time ago to go look for this mage. If he hadn't been successful, he probably would have returned to the village." Faith said to her team.

"The second thing is that we don't know where to go look for him in the mountains. The best play is to go back and report in and try to get to the next world and try to find more clues. If we don't get any more hits then we can plan to come back here for a further search… Understood?"

Faith got affirmative nods from her team.

Faith may have been all business on the outside, but on the inside she was jumping with excitement at this first bit of good news.

"_We just missed each other… Damn we are so close… I am going to find you Michael, that's my promise!_" Faith thought.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

_I was dreaming…_

_I was five years old again… I could see my mother… She was smiling at me… I could see the love in her eyes… I then saw my father… He said he was proud of me… I could see the love and pride in his eyes… I could see where I used to live… The blue sky and green fields… I used to run through the fields laughing…_

... Monitoring increased brain activity… Indicates dream state…

_I was twenty-six… I was back on New Constantinople… The Covenant had started glassing the planet… We were holding out to cover the evacuation areas to get off as many civilians as we could… Covenant ground forces were attacking the perimeter… I could hear the desperate cries for support over the com channels… Flames and smoke were everywhere… I ran to a sector to provide support… I could see the Covenant swarm over the defenses… I started firing… I was angry… I was mad… I killed and killed… I didn't think I would survive… I thought I didn't deserve to survive…_

… Brain activity in dream state indicates possible nightmares…

_I was back in the Hellmouth… It was filled with demons, vampires, and all the other creatures I had fought… I could see Faith on a ledge… She was fighting off the creatures… She was so beautiful… I could see the strength in her… She looked at me and smiled… I could see the love in her eyes… I watched as the creatures swarmed her… I screamed… I couldn't save her… I had failed her…_

… Still monitoring high levels of brain activity… Dream cycle continuing…

_I was seventeen… I had gone through augmentation and I was completing my training… My team was getting ready for our first live mission… We were going to do an insertion to "take out" a secessionist leader on Jericho VII… We did an orbital drop... We were going through the fields to take a position over the suspect's location and we watched and waited… Our target showed up… He was a man in his forties… I lined up to take the shot with my sniper rifle… I could see the target clearly… I could see his eyes… His eyes were filled with loss and sadness, but hinted that they once held love and pride… I remember running to the pickup point through the green fields… I did not take much notice of how blue the skies were…_

* * *

I opened my eyes… I tried to gather my bearings… I was looking up a ceiling… I was in a bed… I started to sit up… I could feel a wave of dizziness and nausea start to build up. I paused and waited for it to pass. I finally got to a sitting position on the side of the bed. I rubbed my face and took a look at my surroundings.

I was in a room that was large and spacious… It was not a human designed room… It had an alien design and feeling, but it felt warm and practical… There was sunlight coming in through a large window with a doorway that opened on to a balcony that had a spectacular view of the lake and surrounding forest.

I stood up to see if everything was still working… I was no longer in my battle armor. I was wearing some sort of smock/hospital gown, but one problem at a time… I started to take a step to make my way over to the balcony door… I could feel my ribs twinge with some pain.

I was trying to recall what had happened before I woke up here… I recalled flashes of what had happened. I remembered being in the forest and hearing screams… I remembered fighting some sort of beast and holding on for my life… I remembered I was hurt badly and I was being dragged through the forest… I remembered hearing a female's voice pleading for help… I remembered hearing a word… "Reclaimer".

I had made my way slowly to the balcony door and was using the entrance way to hold myself up… I could feel the warm sunlight and I could feel a gentle breeze blowing. I was just staring and taking in the view of the lake and forest. It was a beautiful view. I wished that Faith was here…

My contemplation was suddenly interrupted, "You are awake Reclaimer… This is most excellent news…"

I turned around and I was looking at a giant floating light bulb…

* * *

As I looked at the floating glowing orb… "Light bulb"… that was my first thought of what I was looking at.

I tried to speak, but my throat was rough… I realized how dry my throat was. I managed to croak out, "Water…"

"Oh my… Of course Reclaimer… There is a room with a sink and facilities for your personal needs just through the door across the room." replied the electronic voice.

I stumbled across the room into what was evidently the bathroom… I found the sink and the water turned on automatically… I ran my hand under the cool running water and started drinking… The water felt wonderful on my throat… I was starting to get my feet under me again.

I could hear the electronic voice still talking in the other room, "This is such a wonderful day… I was worried at one point as it looked like that you would not survive… It is most fortunate for you that I have extensive data records on your race's biology and anatomy…"

I stumbled out of the bathroom and made my way to the bed and sat down… I was still having some pain and my head was starting to throb… I had questions swirling in my head… So many questions, where to start?

My voice still croaked, but it didn't hurt as much to speak now. "How long was I out?" I asked.

The floating light bulb responded, "You have been unconscious since you were brought to this installation… That was fifteen days ago on this planet's time cycle…"

"Where am I?" I said as I asked the next obvious question.

Again the happy sounding electronic voice was most helpful and willing to answer my question,

"You are currently in the 5414 Erde-Tyrene Research Installation…"

The answer didn't really help me, but at least I had a starting point for reference.

"Who are you? Do you have a name or designation?" I asked.

Once again the voice happily obliged me, "Why yes Reclaimer… I am AI construct 414 Eternal Vigilance… I am the monitor of this installation…"

"Huh… An AI construct… Who constructed you? It wasn't those people in that village I saw was it?" I said.

The AI replied, "Oh my no… Those beings are the indigenous life forms to this planet… I was constructed by the Forerunners to oversee and maintain this installation…"

* * *

I thought "Forerunners? Here?"

This had profound implications for me… Had I made it back to my original universe? Could I contact the UNSC and go back? The bigger question was did I want to go back to the UNSC and the war? I had my oath and duty, but I had a promise to keep to Faith and I wanted to be with her…

With all this info suddenly swirling in my head, the dull throbbing pain in my head was progressing to a sharp painful headache… This was all too much to take in so fast. I had to lie back down.

The AI could see that I was in some distress, "Please Reclaimer… You must rest. The wounds you suffered were quite severe… I will prepare some more solid food for you when you are ready as your system will probably require them after having been on liquid solutions for so long…"

I laid down and closed my eyes. I appeared restful, but my mind was raging trying to process all this information… Forerunners… Home… Honor and Duty… Faith…

I could hear the AI as it floated off humming to itself… "Yes… Yes… The Reclaimer needs rest… It is extraordinary that he even survived wearing such a primitive armor design…"

I feel asleep again and dreamed…

* * *

I awoke again, I don't know how long I was asleep, but the sun of this system was starting to go down. I felt better than I had earlier. I got out of bed much easier and I did another check around the room. It appeared it was just a normal room, so it appeared that I wasn't in any immediate danger, though I had to assume I was being monitored by the AI.

I went again to the window and went out on to the balcony this time. I breathed in deeply the fresh air… It felt and tasted so good. I had a great view from the balcony. I was up at least three stories. I could see the village on my left. I could see the inhabitants moving around going about their daily schedule.

I was watching the village, when I heard the electronic voice say, "Good to see you up Reclaimer… You look much better than you did previously… Would you care for a more solid meal now?"

As the AI mentioned food, I heard my stomach growl… "Yes that would be nice…" I replied.

I started back into the room from the balcony and I suddenly felt underdressed…

"Uhhh… 414 Eternal Vigilance is it? Do you have anything else I could wear besides this?" I asked.

"Oh my apologies Reclaimer… Of course… I have prepared alternate clothing for your use upon you awaking." The AI responded.

A door opened in the wall next to the bathroom facilities revealing a closet with some clothes hanging up. I checked out the clothes and they appeared to be one-piece work suits. I tried the clothes on and they fit perfectly. I also found some work boots and tried them on and they were the correct size as well.

After I changed the AI said, "If you will follow me, I will take you to the main eating area and you can have some solid food."

The door to my room opened and I followed the AI out into the corridor. As we walked the corridor, I noted how the design and styles were the same as that I had seen in the Forerunner installation on planet PX-2235. It didn't take us long to reach the end of the corridor and another door opened to reveal a ramp that acted as the central staircase for this building.

The AI said, "If you will proceed down to the next level that is where the main eating area is located."

I walked down the ramp as the AI descended down the middle of the opening. I stopped for a moment and looked up. It appeared that there was only one more level above where I was located. We arrived at the door to the level we wanted to go to. The door opened and we went through.

"Please turn to your left and proceed down the corridor. The door for the main eating area will open automatically." the AI said.

As we walked I asked the AI, "414 Eternal Vigilance… You said that this is a Forerunner installation?"

"That is correct Reclaimer." replied the AI.

I made a mental note that I was going to dig into all this Reclaimer business, but one thing at a time for now.

"So are where all the Forerunners? Are there any Forerunners here?" I asked.

"Oh my there are no Forerunners here… They have all left… According to my calculations the Forerunners have been gone for at least 100,000 of your years…" the AI responded.

The AI continued, "Please save all your questions until after you have had a chance to eat a proper meal. Then you can ask your questions and I will endeavor to do my best to answer them."

We had arrived at the main eating area. The door opened and we entered…

* * *

I was sitting back in my chair to digest my meal. When the meal was brought to me, I didn't have high hopes. I had eaten some bad and disgusting food to survive in my career as a Spartan, but I was surprised when I ate it that it wasn't half bad. After the meal with my stomach settling I felt that it was time to ask some questions and get some answers.

"414 Eternal Vigilance… Can I just call you 414 or Eternal Vigilance rather than having to deal with that mouthful each time?" I asked.

"Yes Reclaimer… My programing is adaptive, so you may address me in any format you wish." the AI replied.

"Hmmmm… We'll get back to that later. What I need now are some answers?" I replied.

I continued, "You said we are at the 5414 Erde-Tyrene Research Installation. Can you show me which planet and star system we are currently located on?"

"Why most certainly…" replied the AI.

The room darkened a bit and a hologram projection appeared over the table. It was the projection of a galaxy. I saw the spiral shape and arms and I quickly recognized it as the Milky Way. The hologram projection proceeded to zoom in on one of the spiral arms… It was zooming in on an area that I was quite familiar with and I was getting a bad feeling. The projection continued to zoom in and was showing a star system with a single yellow sun and 9 planetary bodies. I watched as the projection continued to zoom in and show a close up of the third planet from the system's sun. I watched as the planet's continents took shape and I easily recognized them from the geography info that Adriana had given me years before… I was on Earth…

Evidently I was not on my Earth or Earth where Faith was… I had passed into another alternate universe with another Earth…

The AI spoke, "I think I understand what you are looking for… I have accessed your damaged battle armor's systems and from the data I recovered I see that you have been transiting between alternate universes looking for a specific universe… Is that correct?"

"That's right. I am looking to get home to my Earth." I responded.

"You have been on Erde-Tyrene in each universe you have visited…" stated the AI.

I suddenly realized something, "So Erde-Tyrene is the designation for this planet?"

"Correct." responded the AI.

I had a sinking feeling, but I needed to confirm it, "The 5414 is not a star system catalog number is it?"

"That is correct Reclaimer… The number designates the universe catalog number followed by the planet location… You are located in the 5414th universe version of this planet…" replied the AI.

"How many universes are there co-existing?" I asked hesitantly not really wanting to hear the answer.

The AI replied most helpfully and cheerfully once again, "At last count when this research installation ceased operations, there were 2,560,765 alternate universes…"

* * *

I felt like throwing up…

Over 2 million alternate universes and here I am trying to get back to a single one… I could spend several lifetimes going to each universe and it would only be by chance that I would find Faith…

I needed to think this through…

"414… You said this was a research installation correct?" I asked the AI.

"That is correct Reclaimer…" responded the AI.

"What was being researched here?" I asked.

The AI responded once again, "Up until this installation ceased operations, the Forerunners were performing research and testing of inter-dimensional slipspace travel. This site was used in conjunction with the primary research center on Tari-Epsilon II in the home universe. This site was used to allow researchers to calibrate and catalog alternate universes working with the primary research center."

"Can I travel to other universes from this installation?" I asked hopefully.

Once again the AI was most helpful, "Yes… This installation still has all the equipment necessary to allow for inter-dimensional travel… Does the Reclaimer wish to travel to a specific universe?"

"Yes… Yes I do. Can you locate a specific universe for me?" I asked trying to keep my excitement in check.

"That Reclaimer would be most difficult… It is possible for me to reactivate this installation to full status, but to locate and target a specific universe for inter-dimensional travel would require a copy or knowledge of the quantum signature of the universe you want to go to. Without that information you cannot locate and travel to the universe you want to go to." the AI responded.

"Quantum signature?" I asked trying to not sound too ignorant.

"Yes Reclaimer… Each universe gives off its own distinct "signature" at the quantum level, much like an identification mark. Early research which indicated that inter-dimensional travel was possible also showed that each organism in a universe radiated the common signature of their "home" universe…" the AI explained.

I summed up to make sure I was understanding what was being explained, "So basically what you are telling me is that I could travel back to my home universe with no problem, but if I wanted to go to a specific universe I would need to have something from that universe in order to scan for this quantum signature or know the signature of that universe… Correct?"

"That is correct…" responded the AI.

I sighed. It looked like I was screwed in spades…

"Ahem… There is something." said 414.

That perked my ears up… "What is it?"

"Even though you do not have the specific quantum signature to travel to the universe you want to go to. I do have another option." stated the AI.

"Go ahead." I said.

"To be honest Reclaimer… I am hesitant to mention this option as it has a limited chance of success and I would hate to raise your expectations with this option… I would…"

"What is it!" I said with some frustration.

"It is possible for me to open mini-portals to other universes. I can scan for certain parameters that you provide. It will not be as accurate as a quantum signature scan, but I can create a list of potential universes for further investigation. Also this process could take considerably longer with little chance of success."

"You know 414 Eternal Vigilance that is pretty much the best news I have heard all day… If you weren't an AI construct I would kiss you…" I said finally seeing some hope to a dismal situation.

"Maybe you miss understood me Reclaimer… I cannot guarantee any chance of success and the time required may…"

I interrupted the AI, "414 you have given me a chance… a small chance to get back where I want to be… That's much better than no chance… I have nothing but time on my hands…"

Until the AI had presented me this option, I had pretty much reconciled myself to having to return to my home universe and never seeing Faith ever again. If I went back I would be fulfilling my duty and oath. The thought of abandoning and deserting the human race tore at me. I had given so much to the UNSC. Was I not entitled to have some happiness? To know she was out there among the universes, but never seeing her again… I could not put that into words. Over thirty years of training and fighting and the words… Honor… Duty… Loyalty… screamed in my head, but my heart and soul said I needed to be with Faith.

"When can you start opening and scanning universes?" I asked eagerly.

"I can start reactivation of this installation immediately. It will take approximately 165 hours local time to bring the equipment out of stasis, to run checks and power up tests before actual work can begin." The AI almost sound excited when I choose this option.

I had made my choice… I was turning my back on the UNSC and the war. I had promised Faith that I would find her and that was my new mission now… No matter how long it took or how many universes I had to visit. My mission and oath was to find Faith.

* * *

I was walking back to my room after the meal. The AI was floating beside me. I felt better than what I did before dinner. I had to be realistic about my situation, but there was a chance now… very small, but it was there.

"You know 414…"

"Yes Reclaimer…"

"What's with this Reclaimer business?" I asked.

"You are a Reclaimer… From the data I accessed from your battle armor systems, I understand that you are familiar with The Flood and the HALO installations?"

"Yes… What! Wait! Installations? You mean there were more than one of those installations built?" I said as my somewhat optimistic outlook was quickly changing.

"Why yes… There were seven HALO installations deployed across the home galaxy to fight The Flood… While it is most unfortunate that HALO installation 04 was destroyed, the other six remaining installations are more than enough to defeat any further Flood infestation…"

I felt my stomach drop. I remembered reading the debriefing reports from John-117's encounter on HALO. According to the info that John obtained, HALO didn't kill The Flood… It killed The Flood's food source which happened to be every living sentient being in the galaxy. We assumed that there had only been the one HALO ring, but to hear that there were six more…

The AI continued, not noticing my shock, "When the Forerunners were fighting The Flood, they had tried every strategy and weapon at their disposal, but The Flood were very resistant and adaptive to whatever was used. Before firing the HALO's, the Forerunners had planned to protect as many species and life forms as possible. They created special locations to store these seeds for regrowth."

"Shield Worlds…" I muttered

"Correct Reclaimer… The Shield Worlds were not only created to fight The Flood, but to protect the genetic samples of many and various life forms and species. The HALO installations were also used as genetic repositories…"

"Okay I understand about the Forerunner's, the HALO's and the war with The Flood. But why are you calling me Reclaimer?"

"It is simple… You are the inheritor of the Forerunners… You are the child of my creators…"

The implications hit me like a thunderbolt.

* * *

I had a restless night's sleep… All this information swirled through my brain… It was bad enough that I had chosen not to go back to my universe, basically turning my back on the UNSC. I was separated from Faith with little chance of finding her. But to also find out that there were more HALO's in my home universe and if that wasn't enough to find out that the human race was in some way related to the Forerunners… It staggered the imagination.

I was wide awake to watch the sun rise in the morning…

* * *

Tala approached the temple as the sun rose. She had come every morning to bring an offering of flowers, fruits and nuts to the temple for the Guardian and especially the Guardian's warrior. She had been coming for 16 days now and each time she left her offering with no reply or indication that the Guardian acknowledged her. She was worried about the man… When they had dragged the wounded man to the temple, the Guardian had at first refused to help, but she had begged and pleaded for him to save the man that had saved her and her brother's lives. Only after begging the Guardian did he finally shine his light on the wounded man and took him into the temple.

There had been no word or news since then and she feared that the man may have died. She had not been able to get the man's face out of her mind since she saw him fight and defeat the two Goracks. She wished to thank the man for his courage.

She left her offering with the other untouched offerings…

* * *

"Good morning Reclaimer… I hope you are feeling better today." Said the cheerful AI voice.

"I'm better… I didn't get much sleep last night… That was a lot of information to take in last night." I replied.

"Eternal Vigilance?" I asked

"Yes Reclaimer…"

My mind was still buzzing with thoughts racing through my brain. I needed to focus on something else… something that was more "manageable". I asked the AI, "You mentioned last night about my damaged battle armor… Where is it and how damaged is it?"

The AI responded, "I have placed your battle armor in the level four lab area… I am sorry to say that it has suffered extensive damage… It had damage from the battle that caused your wounds and also there was system degradation caused by electro-magnetic pulses that your suit was not shielded against when you were travelling between universes…"

"Can it be fixed?" I asked hopefully.

The AI expressed some surprise, "Oh my why would you want that? It is of such a primitive design and completely inadequate…"

"I have done quite well with it so far and I am kind of attached to it…" I replied feeling kind of defensive over the slight insult from 414.

The AI continued, "Normally I would recommend replacing and issue you a new battle armor suit, but unfortunately this installation does not have the facilities to provide you new battle armor…"

"But can it be fixed?" I asked getting quite impatient.

The AI could detect my impatience and finally relented, "Yes it can Reclaimer… It will take some time to repair as I said the damage was quite extensive…"

"Any estimate on how long to repair?" I asked trying to keep my growing impatience in check.

"A minimum of four weeks on local planet time, but again Reclaimer, I must…"

I interrupted the AI, "No buts… I have nowhere else to go right now and I have plenty of time. Can you start the repairs and do all the other work for bringing this installation back on-line as well?"

"Yes Reclaimer… I can manage both tasks." The AI responded.

"Excellent… Thank you 414." I said expressing my honest gratitude.

* * *

Several days passed. I was still taking it easy to recover from my wounds. I had started doing some exercises and stretching, but I was starting to get restless and bored.

I called for 414…

"Yes Reclaimer… What can I do for you?" the AI responded through the installation's com system.

I asked, "I want to go outside to look around and maybe go for a run… What can you tell me about the village and people nearby?"

As always 414 was very helpful and forth coming in his information sharing, "They are the indigenous people to this world and universe. They are rated a Class-2 on the development scale… Beyond basic agricultural and hunter gatherer skills, they have shown no progress or ambition to progress beyond this level."

The AI continued, he expressed his concern, "I would advise caution Reclaimer and that you not venture past a 3 kilometer boundary in the woods due to the predators that are present…"

"Don't worry I'll stick close to the lake shore and maybe I'll check out the village. Since they brought me here I can assume that they are non-hostile…" I said reassuring the worried sounding AI.

The AI relented, "As you wish Reclaimer… I have entered your biometric information into the system and you now have access to all areas of this installation. You may come and go as you please…"

"Thanks 414… About this Reclaimer title? Can you just call me Michael? You said your programing was adaptive and I would prefer being called Michael especially if we are going to be together for some time."

"As you wish Recl… I mean Michael…"

The AI known as 414 Eternal Vigilance cut the com channel and went back to work. The AI hummed to itself as it worked accessing different systems and bringing systems on-line that hadn't been used in thousands of years. The AI was happy as it actually had tasks to perform beyond the general maintenance of this station. There was purpose again. The AI thought that this was a pleasant break from the humdrum of just watching and maintaining systems and just thinking as the millenniums passed.

The AI thought to itself, "This Reclaimer…" The AI corrected itself "This Michael is so different from my Forerunner creators. It will be interesting to assist and work with this person…"

The AI continued humming as it worked…

* * *

Tala had arrived at the temple later in the morning than when she normally came. She had brought another offering for the Guardian and the man. She could see her other offerings undisturbed and she was a little disheartened at the sight. It had been 20 days since the man had come to her and her brother's rescue. She feared that the man had died from his wounds he had suffered defending them and she was feeling guilty that she may have been responsible for the man's death.

She laid the offering down with the rest of the offerings and she kneeled and said a prayer for the man…

It was at this moment that the temple door suddenly opened. Tala was taken by surprise by the opening door, but was even more shocked when she looked up and was staring into the face of the man that had rescued her…

* * *

I headed down the central access ramp and made my way down to the main level. I was just looking forward to getting outside and walking or maybe running a bit. I could feel myself getting stronger and feeling better each day… I needed to do something other than sit around, because then my mind would always wander back to Faith and how I would get back to her and that just made me more anxious and restless.

I followed the corridor to the main entrance. I was anxious to just get outside. The door opened and I was met by the sight of a beautiful young woman kneeling before the door.

* * *

Tala was shocked. The man was still alive! Her heart was filled with joy and her guilty conscious was at ease. She stared at the man and her words failed her… She could not speak… She suddenly felt unworthy to speak to such a man that was a warrior of the temple Guardian… She lowered her eyes and head to show respect.

Her shock continued when she heard the man speak to her and he said "Hello".

* * *

I was taken briefly by surprise by the sight of the young woman… I thought I had seen her before… It came to me. She was the young woman that I had saved from those beasts in the forest. Her skin was a deeply tanned color and she had long dark black hair and high cheek bones. When she saw me, she quickly averted her gaze and lowered her head.

"Hello…" I said as I recovered from my surprise.

I wasn't sure if the woman understood me. The woman was still kneeling and appeared to be afraid of me.

"Don't be afraid… I won't hurt you" I said gently.

The woman still did not respond.

"Do you understand me?" I asked.

The woman shook her head with what I took to be an affirmative signal, but she still wouldn't look up at me or talk.

I decided to push on, "My name is Michael… What's your name?"

The woman still did not reply or look up at me.

"Well it will be kind of hard to have a conversation with you if you don't talk and it would be nice to see who I am talking too as well…" I said with some amusement.

The woman finally looked up and met my gaze. She had the deepest green eyes I had ever seen.

"My name is Tala…"

* * *

Tala had been afraid to look up and meet the man's gaze. She was afraid of showing disrespect, but the man continued talking to her.

The tone of his voice was calm and reassuring and Tala was feeling more at ease with the man now.

The man had told Tala his name. He was called Michael… That was a strange name, but it must have great meaning from where he came from. This man…Michael… asked for her name. The temple Guardian's warrior wanted to know her name! She finally looked up and met Michael's gaze. This Michael was a huge man. He was the biggest person she had ever seen. His body and posture radiated strength and sense of purpose. His face was older, but still had a touch of youth in it still. He had those scars on his face that she had seen. She had assumed that he had gotten those scars in battle. But it was his eyes that stood out. Michael's eyes had the look of having seen so much pain, but that they still held kindness and compassion. There was also great strength in there as well. She had seen him in battle and knew that this man had great courage and force of will.

"How may I serve you Michael?" Tala said with reverence in her voice.

* * *

I was not expecting that kind of response from the woman and she caught me a little off guard.

"Ummm… Well first thing is maybe if you can stand up… I'm not one for having people kneel before me…" I responded feeling somewhat awkward.

The woman stood up still looking at me with awe.

"You are the woman who was in the forest with the boy that was attacked by those creatures?" I asked.

She nodded and said, "Yes."

I asked if the boy was alright.

The woman…Tala… she called herself, replied, "My brother Adahy is unhurt. I want to thank you. If you had not helped, we would both be dead right now. Our lives are yours…"

I blushed a little bit from embarrassment from the praise I was getting. Usually when I did something brave (or stupid depending on your point of view) all I got was a medal and a hearty "well done" from my commanding officer. This was a little too personal and I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable with it.

"I am glad that your brother was not hurt. I was glad that I was there to help." I said honestly.

"You were hurt so badly protecting us. I was worried that you would die." replied Tala

"It's okay… I was lucky and the AI here patched me up." The woman looked at me strangely and I realized that she wouldn't know what an AI is or was, so I had to rephrase myself.

"The Guardian took care of me and healed my wounds." I said.

Tala expressed her relief, "I am glad that you have been healed by the Guardian… The story of your battle against the Goracks is told in my village. Everyone rejoiced at the death of those beasts at your hands."

"Goracks…Those are what the locals call those beasts I fought." I thought filing that info away.

"Speaking of your village… Would it be okay if I visited it?" I asked.

"This man… This great warrior wanted to visit her village!" thought Tala excitedly.

"Of course… Michael… It would be a great honor for all of us for you to come to our village!" Tala said happily.

"Then let's go…" I said.

Tala turned and we headed off to her village…

* * *

We walked along the lake shoreline. I was amazed by how beautiful it all was. It reminded me of Reach… or at least how Reach used to look before the Covenant glassed it.

Thinking of Reach started the avalanche of thoughts and feelings I had been repressing for so long. I was feeling frustrated, angry, sad and guilty… I was getting tired of all it… I just wanted to live my life and be with Faith… Looking at the beauty here around me... I was tired of the orbital drops… The unending waves of Covenant ships and troops… The burning cities and burning planets… The demons and vampires... I was tired of the death… I looked at the beauty around me and I felt tired.

Tala looked at Michael and could see that something was troubling him… She remembered the look of pain in his eyes. She wished she could do something to ease his pain.

They walked in silence towards the village, each were in their own thoughts, dreams, hopes and memories.

* * *

Tala and Michael approached the village. Some of the inhabitants saw Tala and the huge stranger approaching and the call went out across the village. Everyone came out to see who the stranger was. As Tala and Michael got closer, Tala could see the crowd growing… She was a little fearful as the crowd appeared restless and cautious at seeing such a huge man such as Michael approaching. She was going to warn Michael, but when she looked at him, she saw no fear… She saw caution and intelligence, but no fear… He looked at her and her fear disappeared.

* * *

We approached Tala's village, I could see the crowd gathering. They looked nervous and cautious which was understandable. I wasn't worried. If there was any real threat I could easily out run all of them. I didn't see any need for a confrontation. Tala looked more nervous than I looked or felt.

Tala said she should go ahead to talk to the villagers and that I should wait here. I said it wouldn't be a problem. I watched her go ahead and talk to her people. I could hear what she was saying with my enhanced hearing. She was telling them who I was and that I had wanted to see their village. Once they realized who I was I could see them relax noticeably and start smiling and cheering. Tala turned and smiled and I knew it was okay.

The village turned the day into a celebration. They were celebrating the great warrior that had saved two of their people and had killed two Goracks. The villagers were celebrating life.

I watched as the village had their celebration. They started cooking food and preparing the feast. Games and contests of strengths were quickly started. The warriors of the village were showing off their skills with knifes, bow and arrows and hand to hand fighting. Some of the warriors wanted to challenge me or have me display my strength. Tala intervened and said that I was a guest and to their disappointment they left me to watch and rest. I watched their fighting styles and considering how Eternal Vigilance had rated their society, the fighting styles they used were quite advanced.

Tala had introduced me to her parents during the celebration and they both thanked me for saving their children's lives. Throughout the whole celebration, people would stare and point at me. I understood, but I was self-conscious that I was still the outsider and stranger. I had drawn a crowd of children that would follow me around. I could see that my group of followers was led by Tala's brother Adahy. I would move around the celebration followed by my entourage of children. I would see Tala watch me and she would smile.

As the celebration wore on, I could see the day get later. I knew I had to head back to the installation. I located Tala in the crowd and I said I had to be leaving. I could see the disappointment in her face. She asked me to stay in the village for the night, but I said that it would be better if I left. Some of the villagers were disappointed as well that I was leaving, but the majority were too busy with the celebrations to notice that I would be gone.

Tala asked if she could see me tomorrow, I said it would be no problem. I would be outside "the temple" in the morning doing some exercises. I left the village to return to the Forerunner installation to get some rest.

The next morning when I went outside the installation, I found Tala waiting with her regular offering of flowers, fruits and nuts. I had tried the food in the village, so I accepted her gift as it was a nice diversion from the food that my AI friend was serving.

Tala watched as I did my stretching exercises and I started doing some running. I told her I was just going to run to the village and back and that I would only be gone a short time. Tala was skeptical, but her skepticism turned to shock when she saw how fast I ran to the village and back. Tala would just sit and watch me. This started to become our morning routine together.

* * *

Almost three weeks had passed since the village celebration and Tala was visiting Michael at the "temple" every morning. She watched him do his "exercises" as he called them and she was still amazed by the feats of strength Michael displayed.

Tala was falling in love with Michael. Who could not help but fall in love with a man like him? He was big, strong, and brave. He was a great warrior. He had rescued her.

Tala was watching Michael come back from his run to the village and back. When Michael came back, Tala came over to Michael while he was catching his breath.

"Michael… I would like to invite you to dinner at my family's house tonight. Please it would be a great honor for me and my family." Tala asked almost pleading.

I saw that Tala would be disappointed if I declined and I said with a tiny bit of reluctance that I would attend. I said I needed to check in with the Guardian and clean up, but that I would be at her house for dinner. Tala left squealing in delight at my acceptance of her invitation.

I headed back into the installation to clean up and check in with 414 and get a daily status update on his work.

* * *

414 reported that since he got the installation up and running ten days ago, he had started opening mini-portals and scanning other universes. I had given him the parameters of the search conditions. Since each portal would open on an alternate Earth, I asked 414 when scanning to look for any audio and video broadcasts which would indicate an industrial and technological advanced society. If such broadcasts were detected then 414 was to record and mark them for me to review.

I found 414 working in one of the labs humming.

"Hey 414… What's the latest update today?" I asked.

"Michael… I am pleased to report that as of 20 minutes ago, I have completed scanning 1057 universes using the parameters you gave. Unfortunately I have not encountered any universes that display any level of technology that was set in the parameters…" the AI replied.

"So basically we are zero for 1057… That sucks…" I sighed.

"Yes it is disheartening, but I do have some good news." The AI said cheerily.

"Well don't keep me in suspense." I demanded.

"I am pleased to report that your battle armor suit repairs are progressing satisfactorily. I am going to perform a system diagnostic test today. I should have a better idea on the status of repairs after the test…" reported the AI.

"That's good news 414… 414 Eternal Vigilance… This brings me to another topic which I have been giving lots of thought to…" I said.

"What would be the topic?" asked the AI.

"I have decided that you need a new designation as I think calling you 414 or Eternal Vigilance is cumbersome and a mouthful… It doesn't have zing or pizazz." I said smiling.

"Zing? Pizazz?" the AI asked with some confusion.

I laughed and continued in a half serious tone, "That's right… In honor of your achievements and duty… By all the power invested to me by being the only Reclaimer here and the authority of the UNSC… I bequeath you the name… Virgil."

"Virgil?" the AI spoke again with more confusion.

"Yes… I will now call you Virgil… You have adaptive programming, so adapt!" I laughed.

The AI tried out its new designation, "Virgil… Virgil… I am Virgil… I am pleased with it. Thank you Michael."

"You are most welcome Virgil... and thank you." I said with true emotion.

I clapped my hands, "Okay now that is done, I am heading out for dinner in the village at Tala's house and family, so you will be on your own… Behave yourself…Virgil."

"Yes Michael…" responded the AI now sounding even happier.

I headed out of the installation and started my walk to the village leaving Virgil behind to continue his work for me.

The AI formerly known as 414 Eternal Vigilance and recently designated as Virgil continued humming happily while he worked.

Virgil had started the diagnostic tests on Michael's battle armor. This required a limited power up of systems to test functionality and identify any power issues. The test was to last for an hour and the suit was to power down automatically. While the suit test was running, Virgil went ahead and opened some more mini-portals to scan more universes.

Virgil opened a portal to one universe and he scanned, but found no audio or video broadcasts of the type that Michael had set out as the parameters for the search. Virgil sighed and then closed the mini-portal to that particular universe and moved on to the next one. Virgil felt some frustration that he had not found anything worthwhile yet to report to Michael.

What Virgil had missed when scanning that universe was a special IFF signal that was on a Spartan only channel that was coming from a beacon that Faith and her team had placed on one of their portal trips. Virgil missed the signal, but Michael's battle armor suit had been powered up and picked it up. A priority message was flashing on the command channel. The command channel kept flashing the signal until Virgil closed the mini-portal. Even then there was still a message log indicating that a message had been detected and who had sent it. Unfortunately that message log was wiped when the suit powered down after its diagnostic test leaving no evidence that Faith was out there looking for Michael…

* * *

The sun was just starting its descent for the evening when Michael arrived at Tala's family home for dinner.

"I should have brought a bottle of wine or maybe even flowers…" I smiled as I thought of the joke.

I called out for Tala to announce my presence. I was greeted by the sight of Tala smiling and running out of the hut. She jumped up and hugged me. I was taken aback by the greeting, but it wasn't unpleasant.

Tala let go of her hug and dropped to the ground, "I am so glad you made it for dinner… My family is expecting you… Please come in and share with us." she said.

"Thank you I would be honored to come into your home and share with you." I replied.

I went into the hut and was greeted warmly by Tala's parents. Tala's brother Adahy was there smiling he was immediately upon me asking me to tell him stories of my adventures and where I had been. Off in the corner were Tala's two younger sisters. They would look at me and smile and giggle in a shy way. I would smile back at them.

We all sat down to a dinner that I found out that had been prepared by Tala herself. It was the best meal I'd had in a long time. After the meal Tala's family and I sat around relaxing. Tala's father had offered me a pipe to smoke from, but I was never much the smoker and I declined gently trying not to offend him.

Tala was still smiling and looking at me, it was starting to madden me as she was evidently anxious to tell me something.

"Okay what's bothering you? It looks like if you don't tell me soon you'll explode." I said laughing.

Tala got up and left the common area and went back to her room. She came back carrying a huge bundle that had been wrapped with animal skins.

"This is for you…" was all that Tala said with a smile.

I shrugged and opened the wrapped bundle. As I opened I was happy to see the familiar bundle contents. The bundle contained my pulse rifle, shotgun, combat knife and most importantly my battle armor helmet which I had taken off during the battle with the second Gorack.

I had resigned myself to having lost this equipment. I had planned to go out to the battle site and look, but I was holding off until I had the battle armor repaired. Tala had gathered my equipment and put it away for safe keeping.

I looked at Tala, smiled and said, "Thank you… This means a lot… I thought I had lost this equipment."

Adahy came closer and wanted to touch my equipment, but I said it wasn't safe to play with. I could see him start to pout and as a compromise I let him put on my Spartan helmet and wear it around the hut on the provision that I got it back at the end of the evening. Adahy ran off laughing playing with my helmet.

Tala said with a laugh, "You'll be lucky if you ever see that ever again…"

"No problem… I know where he lives." I said and we both laughed at the joke.

Adahy came back wearing my helmet, he asked if I could tell a story of places I had been and things I had seen and done. Tala's parents were about to scold Adahy for bothering me, when I said I would do it.

"My only condition if I'm going to tell stories is that we do it outside under the night sky with a fire going." I said smiling.

Everyone moved outside and a fire was started. We all settled down. Tala sat near me and her parents sat across from us. The other kids sat close as well.

I started the story off by asking them to look up at the stars in the night sky. I tried to explain that each of those stars was a sun much like there's and around those suns were planets. On those planets lived other people much like them and myself.

I explained in my world lived many people in huge villages. I could see them trying to comprehend, but finding it difficult to believe that such things existed. I told them that my people lived and explored, but one day we ran into another group of people that were very different from us. They called themselves the Covenant, they did not like us and wanted to kill all of us. We fought huge battles on the planets and between the stars. I was a soldier in that war and I fought in many battles for many years. I tried to explain how I travelled to another universe, I got puzzled looks, but everyone was still listening intently to my story.

I told them of the place where I found myself had demons and other evil creatures that preyed upon the people who lived there. I told them that there were brave female warriors on that world that were called Slayers. I told them of how Buffy and Faith had been chosen to protect and defend against the evil creatures that preyed upon the people. I told them of the final Battle of the Hellmouth where many brave young girls and women fought and died to protect their world. I told them of how I had taken a bundle that had a great power and set it off to seal the Hellmouth and that I had been trapped there and I was looking for my way back.

It was getting very late by the time I had finished the story. Adahy wanted to hear more, but his parents shooed him and the younger sisters to bed. I said I was going to sit by the fire for a while longer before I left, Tala said she would sit with me to keep me company. As Tala's parents left to go to bed themselves they exchanged knowing looks between each other.

I was sitting on the ground leaning against a log with the fire going. I was looking at the night sky watching the stars. Tala asked if she could come closer. I said I didn't mind. She came in and snuggled closer to get comfortable. I didn't mind it. She was watching the night sky with me.

I was struck by a moment of déjà vu. I suddenly felt I was back on the warehouse roof in Sunnydale watching the night sky with Faith…

"You have been to those lights in the sky?" Tala asked.

"Not those particular lights, but ones like them…" I said.

She asked if those lights in the sky had names. I started to point and name the different constellations. Tala suddenly leaned in and kissed me…

To say that I hadn't expected it or thought about would have been a lie, but her kiss still caught me by surprise. The surprising part (to me) was that I did not pull away immediately. The kiss seemed to last forever, but then I realized that I wasn't kissing Tala… I was kissing Faith in my mind. We finally parted lips and Tala looked at me.

"I love you Michael…" she said.

I could see that in her eyes, but I only wanted Faith.

"Tala… I don't know what to say…I" I managed to say.

Tala placed her finger on my lips and said, "Shhhh… I know that you love another… It is this woman… Faith that you spoke of in your stories… I could see how your eyes lit up when you said her name. She is the one you are trying to get back to is it?"

I nodded and said, "I have seen so much pain, suffering and death… I am sick of it… I have watched too many good people die for so many years. I have been fighting longer than you have been alive and the only one true and good thing that has come out of it has been my time with Faith."

"I see the pain in your eyes… Let me ease some of your pain at least for tonight." Tala said with love in her eyes and she leaned in and kissed me again.

I could have easily have pushed Tala away, but it felt so good and so right at that moment. I was already dealing with feelings of guilt for turning my back on the UNSC to continue my search for Faith.

Tala gave herself to me and we spent the night exploring our bodies together. It was different with Tala, she was a normal human being without any special abilities. I found that I had to hold something back… With Faith we found that we could both let go and be ourselves in and out of bed together… That is one of the reasons why I loved Faith… She made me feel "normal".

I woke as the sun rose over the hills. Tala and I were curled up together by the remnants fire. I watched her sleep and I knew that I would have to head back to the installation soon, but it could wait for a bit. I wanted to enjoy the moment for what it was.

I knew that I would have to deal with the consequences of my actions. I only hoped that Faith would let me explain before she tried to kick my ass…


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The news that Faith and her team brought back of finding evidence that Michael was alive and out there provided a much needed morale boast for everyone in the "warehouse". To know that there was a chance now re-energized everyone's efforts.

Faith had asked for another team to be put together to double their search efforts. At the time Buffy could hardly say no. Another team was put together and Kennedy was put in charge.

Both teams would go out at somewhat staggered intervals to at least give Willow a chance to recharge between spells.

There was now a new optimism among the group that it wouldn't be long before they found another clue to Michael's whereabouts or found Michael himself.

That optimism lasted for about three months…

* * *

_**Sunnydale, California – August 27, 2004 – 1422 PST  
**_  
Another meeting was taking place in the warehouse conference room. The meeting wasn't unusual by who attended, but by who was missing.

Buffy had called the meeting and she looked around the table at Giles, Xander, Anya, Willow, and Kennedy. Faith hadn't been invited to the meeting as the meeting was to discuss the ongoing search for Michael and in a related matter to discuss about Faith. Adriana was present, but they couldn't exclude her even if they wanted to.

Buffy spoke first, "You all know why I have called this meeting. We need to discuss the search for Michael and whether it is time to call it quits."

Everyone at the table looked at each other uncomfortably. As each day went by without finding any further evidence of Michael or Michael himself the hard question was quickly becoming, how long they were to keep looking.

Buffy continued, "I know that all of us feel a debt to Michael for everything he has done, but how long can we keep this search up? I think that the time has come to wrap it up and move on to other important tasks. I'm not saying that we still not do something, but it can't be our one and only task…"

Giles spoke, "I have to agree with you Buffy. We have to face the facts and the facts are not looking good. Other than the one sighting, there has been no other trace or information found related to Michael in over 65 portal openings."

Adriana spoke, "I am one not to be affected by emotional considerations. I do miss Michael and wish to continue searching for him, but I must face the cold hard logical truth that the longer it takes the lower our chances become…"

Adriana continued, "The batteries on the first set of beacons deployed will soon be running out and we cannot keep revisiting universes to fix beacons and replace batteries… We do not have the resources to do this type of work indefinitely…"

Buffy and everyone else could see that this was hard for Adriana as the AI continued speaking, "I have known Michael for the longest and been in many "situations" with him. I know that he would want us to not waste any more time and resources on such a remote chance of finding him. We now have to rely on Michael finding his own way back to us… If ever…"

Everyone was silent in the room after Adriana spoke. Everyone had to contemplate the decision before them.

Kennedy spoke to break the silence. She was not one to hold back her opinion, "We all know what the real problem is. It isn't that we are giving up the search for Michael it's how we tell Faith that we are giving up the search."

Everyone around the table looked around uncomfortably as the real topic of the meeting was being voiced.

"We're all agreed then that it is time to declare the search officially over…" Buffy said.

"So who gets to draw the short straw and be the lucky winner to tell Faith the news?" Xander asked.

No one spoke up and again everyone looked around uncomfortably.

"From your silence, I guess I'm the one that has to tell Faith that we're ending the search." Buffy responded.

"Oh this will be fun…" Buffy thought.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Buffy was at Faith's room door. Buffy had tried to put off this encounter for as long as possible, but Buffy couldn't wait any longer. Buffy knocked on the door.

Buffy heard Faith say through the door, "Come in Buffy…"

Buffy walked in, she saw that Faith was stretched out on the bed with her hands clasped behind her head and staring at the ceiling.

"How did you know?" Buffy asked puzzled.

Faith kept looking at the ceiling as she responded, "When you have done time in prison, you get a sense of when things are going to happen… People won't make eye contact with you… Those sorts of things… you know."

Buffy tried to stammer out, "Faith… I… I just want to say that…"

Faith cutoff Buffy harshly, "Skip it B… I know what this is about… You're here to tell me that we're giving up and not going to keep searching for Michael… Right?"

All Buffy could do was nod yes.

Faith sat up and looked at Buffy

Faith continued speaking, "A part of me knows what you are saying and wants to say yes, but my heart is screaming no…"

Buffy could see that Faith was trying to keep a lid on her emotions and Buffy could really feel for her.

"You know it's time and this is the right decision… You have to live your life and you can't keep living on the slim thread of hope…" Buffy said showing her own sadness and understanding in her voice.

"B… Buffy… I have never asked for a favor before… I don't know if I deserve any consideration..." Faith said in a pleading voice.

"What is it?" Buffy asked hesitantly.

"Can we send out both teams to search five more worlds each? I don't think it's asking a lot… is it?" Faith asked pleading.

Buffy replied hesitantly again, "I don't know Faith… I'll ask to see what everyone thinks. I can't promise that they will support this, but I'll ask."

"Thanks Buffy… I… I…" Faith started speaking and then she hesitated.

Buffy could sense that Faith had more to say. "What is it that you want to say?" Buffy asked.

"Nothing… Just thanks…" Faith said.

Buffy wasn't fooled by this and she knew that Faith was going to say and do something. She just hoped that it wasn't anything that Faith or anyone else would regret.

"I can stay and talk longer if you want…" Buffy asked.

"No B, I just want to be alone right now…" Faith replied.

Buffy turned and left. She had a bad feeling, but she also knew that Faith wanted her space. Buffy planned to keep an eye on Faith.

After Buffy left, Faith laid back in the bed and put her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling. She continued staring at the ceiling… as the tears ran down her face as she cried silently…

* * *

Buffy had talked to the group with Faith's request and there was much relief that there hadn't been a huge incident over ending the search. There was some hesitation from some in the group to do another 10 portal openings, but Buffy used her influence and force of will to convince everyone that it was the best solution and the right compromise to give Faith.

The search would be over by mid-September and then the group could look at dealing with other issues that had been left hanging for the last six months.

The first six portal openings each yielded the same negative search results. Buffy saw that everyone was getting stressed and tense. Buffy decided to call a break for a few days to give everyone a break and to relax.

The Bronze night club had just reopened in Sunnydale and Buffy thought it would be a good idea for everyone to take a break and spend a night out to unwind. Buffy had even managed to talk Faith into leaving her room and coming along. It had seemed like a good idea at the time…

* * *

The Bronze had reopened and everyone (at least those of drinking age) had gone as a group to hang out at the reopened club and release some tension. Giles had stayed behind at the warehouse with those girls that were not of legal age to get into the club.

When Buffy left with the group, she had heard Giles mention about giving a lecture, to those potentials that couldn't go, about the role of Sumerian demons and their impact on Sumerian and Babylonian society… Buffy just shook her head and hoped that all the weapons had been locked up for Giles's sake…

Buffy had been pleasantly surprised that Faith had decided to come to The Bronze. Faith had been pretty quiet since the decision and Buffy was still keeping a worried eye on Faith.

* * *

The Bronze was jumping. The rebuilding of Sunnydale was getting into its final phases. People had moved back to Sunnydale. Some had come to make money and take advantage of opportunities from the rebuilding and others were returning to pick up and rebuild their lives. The common factor was that people needed a place to unwind and blow some steam off.

When Buffy and group arrived, the place was jumping. Everybody headed off to explore the place and enjoy themselves. Buffy noticed that Faith headed towards the bar and took a seat up there.

Buffy was having fun, she was moving through the crowd and talking with different people and for a moment she was feeling normal again. Buffy had seen Xander and Anya off in the corner talking and she had seen Willow and Kennedy on the dance floor cutting loose. Buffy saw the potentials having fun as well as she mingled through the crowd. Buffy would occasional take a look and still see Faith sitting at the bar. Buffy was relieved as it appeared that Faith was staying out of trouble.

* * *

Faith was sitting at the bar and having some beers. She was on to her third beer and she was getting a warm feeling inside. Faith heard the fun and excitement going on around her, but she wasn't in the party mood. She had come to The Bronze to get away from the warehouse and the memories that lingered there. Faith was deep in thought as she had a decision to make.

A voice called out "Heeyyy… I can't believe what I'm seeing… Faith… My sweet Faith!"

Faith turned to the voice and was looking at a rough looking biker type guy that was with a group of five similar rough looking guys.

"Sorry dude… Do I know you?" Faith asked.

"Hey baby… It's me Ricky… You couldn't have forgotten about me already…" said the biker.

"Sorry I don't remember you…" Faith said trying to end the conversation.

"We had some fun times in LA…" said the biker named Ricky.

Los Angeles… Faith was taken by surprise and shock… She had tried so hard to put LA behind her… She had done things that she wasn't proud of… She had spent months there mourning and trying to forget Michael when she had thought he had died in the Hellmouth. There were gaps in her memory as she had been running pretty wild and hard. She honestly couldn't remember this Ricky guy, but the way he talked he sure remembered Faith.

The biker continued talking and was directed to his group, "Yes Faith is a wild one… The things she could do… mmmmm…. It was so sweet… I tasted me that fine piece of ass…"

The biker was getting quite loud in his talking and other people were hearing the conversation. The bikers in the group were smiling and looking at Faith with lustful eyes imagining her naked.

The biker leaned in closer to Faith. She could feel his hot breath on her and it smelled a mix of bad breath and beer.

The biker spoke in a loud voice so that his buddies could hear him, "Hey baby… How about you me and my friends here have a party tonight? We gots ourselves a motel room nearby and you can come back and show us a good time… Last time you and me hooked up, you had lots of "stamina" so I'm sure you could easily help my friends out as well…"

The biker's buddies laughed and smiled at the thought.

"Just leave me alone… Please!" Faith said trying just to put some space between her and this group.

Faith had started up to get away and the biker named Ricky grabbed Faith's arm and got a strong grip of her arm.

"Where do you think you are going? You aren't being very friendly now aren't you? You are going to show us a fun time now…" The biker named Ricky sneered at Faith.

Faith could have easily taken the bikers, but she was embarrassed and ashamed. She could see the other people around the bar start to talk and look at her. She saw some of the potentials watch and talk amongst themselves. Faith just stood there wishing she was somewhere else or someone else.

"Just leave me alone!" Faith begged.

"I don't think I like….." The biker started to say when he was suddenly interrupted.

"You heard the lady mate! Why don't you and your traveling band of gorillas sod off now!"

Faith and the bikers turned towards the voice. Standing there was Spike looking ever menacing.

"Take a hike Billy Idol…" Ricky and his friends turned to face Spike.

Ricky continued with his threating stance, "What is this bitch to you? Are you her boyfriend is that it?" he said with a sneer.

Spike just laughed, "No I'm not her boyfriend and you and your little gang of traveling freaks are lucky that this little lady's boyfriend isn't here…"

"So we have a tough guy here…" Ricky said to his biker friends and they all laughed.

Spike decided that this dance had gone on long enough. Spike shook his head and showed the bikers his true face.

"Mate… I'm your worst nightmare, but this lady's boyfriend makes me look like a pussy cat compared to what he could do to all of you… so shove off!"

The bikers were taken aback and were suddenly fearful when they saw Spike turn into his vampire face.

The bikers were just smart enough to know that they were dealing with a losing hand and they turned and left.

Ricky sneered at Faith as he turned and said loudly that all close by could hear, "This whore ain't worth bleeding over!"

The bikers left the bar area headed towards the front door of the club.

Spike watched the bikers leave and made sure that they actually left the club. Spike then turned towards Faith who was still standing there looking pale.

"Are you all right? You look shook up…" Spike asked Faith.

Faith was feeling very self-conscious and that everyone in the bar was looking at her and pointing and talking about her.

"I…I… I… have to leave." was all that Faith managed to stammer out. Faith turned and ran for the fire exit door and went into the alley behind the night club.

As Faith was running for the exit, Buffy had noticed the end part of the confrontation with the bikers and had made her way to Spike.

"What happened?" Buffy asked Spike.

"Some buggers were harassing Faith. Seems that one of them knew Faith from LA and was giving her a hard time. Faith wasn't dealing very well with the situation, so I decided to help out."

"Oh god…" was all that Buffy said and she had a very bad feeling now. She raced out the fire exit to catch up with Faith. Spike followed at a distance somewhat confused.

"I was just trying to help!" Spike tried to explain as he followed Buffy out the fire exit door.

* * *

Buffy burst out the exit door. She was expecting and preparing for the worse. She found Faith on her knees in the alley. Faith was holding her face in her hands. Buffy could tell that Faith was crying as her shoulders heaved. Spike came up and stopped at discreet distance away as he saw what was happening.

"Faith? …Faith are you alright?" Buffy asked in a soft tone.

"No… I'm not alright… My life has turned to shit!" Faith replied.

Buffy could hear the sadness and anger in Faith's voice.

"Faith, I'm sorry… I'm…" Buffy started to say.

"Skip it B…" Faith interrupted. Faith dropped her hands from her face.

Faith continued cursing, "Damn him… Damn him for making me love him… I could live with everything else that I have done or has happened in my life, but he showed me happiness and true love and it has been taken from me… us."

Buffy could only stand there and watch Faith. Spike was watching the scene unfold uncomfortably behind Buffy.

Faith regained her composure and wiped her eyes. She stood up and turned to face Buffy.

Faith had the look of someone who had made up their mind and had come to a decision. "Buffy I just want to say thanks for everything you have done for me. You have been a good friend to me when I haven't deserved it." Faith said.

Buffy felt that there was "a but" coming with this statement.

"But I have decided that when the search is over… I'm leaving Sunnydale again… I'm going to continue the search on my own… I don't know how I'll do it, but I have to keep looking and I can't stay here anymore… There are too many memories and I'll go crazy if I stay…"

Buffy stepped closer to Faith. "I understand… Anything you need just ask. Just know if you need me… just ask." Buffy said.

Faith hugged her fellow Slayer. "Thanks Buffy."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_Sunnydale, California – September 14, 2004 – 0912 PST_

Faith was getting her team ready for their second last portal trip. The encounter that Faith had with the bikers was the big news going on through the unofficial gossip news channel in the warehouse among the potentials. Faith knew that the potentials would look at her and talk behind her back, but she didn't care anymore.

"Just one more trip and I'm out of here. I'll worry about what to do after I leave." thought Faith.

Faith turned to her team, "Is everyone ready to go." She asked.

Faith got affirmatives and nods to signify that everyone in her team was ready.

Faith could see Willow getting ready as usual to open the portal and she watched Willow cast her spell.

The idea suddenly came to Faith of what she was going to do. She was going to go back to the world that Michael had been on and she was going to track down the mage the villagers had told Michael about… Yes! Faith had a plan now and she now felt better inside. She knew it would be rough, but it was better than wandering around and feeling sorry for herself. She would deal with all the planning when she got back from this trip.

As Faith was feeling a sense of self-satisfaction about her new plan, Buffy and Xander wandered over to her.

"We have a slight change up in today's schedule." Xander said.

"What's wrong now?" Faith asked.

"Nothing really that affects you and your team Faith. One of the potentials on Kennedy's team had a little too much fun last night and is just recovering. Her team is going to go through their portal a little bit later that we normally stagger you guys going through." Xander reported.

"So we're still a go then?" Faith asked to confirm.

Buffy nodded and said "Yes… You are still good to go."

Everyone watched as Willow opened the portal to another dimension. Faith went through first as usual and her team followed behind her.

* * *

Faith and her team had arrived on a world that looked quite nice. They had arrived in a slightly wooded area with clearings scattered about. It seemed just like another normal run.

Faith didn't really need to tell the potentials on her team what to do as they were all old hands by now and knew the routine, but never the less Faith went over everything as usual.

"Stacy… Lisa… Setup the beacon."

"Kylie… Madison… 200 meter sweep."

Faith finished off by adding, "I'm going to head that way… It looks like higher ground. Okay let's do this."

* * *

Stacy and Lisa were once again setting up and checking the beacon.

"Just one more of these trips and we are done…" Lisa said with some relief.

"I have to admit I would never have thought over a year ago that I would be travelling to different worlds… It has been quite the rush." Lisa added.

Lisa could see that Stacy was in one of her moods and she tried to find out what was going on. Lisa was about the closet thing to a friend that Stacy had.

"Stacy… What's wrong? You've been pretty quiet." Lisa asked.

"It's not right…" Stacy said.

"What's not right?" Lisa asked.

"It's not right that we are abandoning Michael like this… We can't give up on him! Buffy and the others are wrong to do this… Michael wouldn't give up on us!" Stacy said with emotion welling up in her voice.

Lisa had been having similar thoughts as Stacy, but Lisa was also a realist. They had to call the search off some time.

"Geezzz… Stacy… Like I have said before… You would think that we were looking for your boyfriend." Lisa said with some derision in her voice.

Stacy just remained quiet and pouted as she continued her work.

* * *

Kylie and Madison were doing their sweep through the woods. They were half way through the sweep and Madison was having a hard time keeping up.

"What's the matter Madison? Still trying to recover from The Bronze?" Kylie said with a laugh.

"Bite me Kylie!" Madison replied with her own laugh. Madison was feeling a bit out of it from the party at The Bronze, but that wasn't what was slowing her up.

"I got a rock in my boot... I got to get it out as it is killing my foot." Madison said.

Madison found a log by some brush to sit down on.

Kylie said, "I'm just up ahead a bit and I'll be right back."

Madison nodded her understanding and Kylie headed off and was quickly out of sight in some of the low brush.

Madison hummed as she unlaced her boot, took it off and shook the rock out. She had her boot back on and laced up. She was about to stand up when a large hand came out of the brush behind her and covered her mouth…

* * *

Kylie was calling for Madison as she returned to the spot where she had left Madison, "Hey slow poke… Let's get going… What did you have in…"

Kylie never had a chance to finish what she was saying as a pair of hands reached out of the brush and covered her mouth and grabbed her.

* * *

Stacy and Lisa had finished setting up the beacon and were standing around waiting. They saw Faith re-enter the clearing and walk towards them.

"How are things going?" Faith asked.

"Beacon is up and running and all is quiet here." replied Lisa.

"Where's Kylie and Madison?" Faith asked.

"They haven't gotten back yet from their sweep." Stacy reported.

"That's funny… They're usually done their sweeps by now…" Faith said.

Faith opened the com channel on her headset, "Kylie… Madison… You out there?"

Faith repeated again, "Kylie… Madison… Do a check in?"

Faith started to get a bad feeling, "Stacy… Lisa… Very quietly and very easily unsling your weapons and take the safeties off." Faith said in a whisper.

"What's going on?" asked Lisa trying to stay focused and not panic.

"I think we're being watched…" Faith responded.

The women unslung their weapons and tried to look nonchalant about it.

"What now?" asked Stacy.

"We now go for a little walk to the edge of the forest closest to us as we are too exposed out here." Faith said trying to keep her voice normal.

"Why don't we open the portal and head home?" asked Lisa.

"One… We don't want to show whoever is watching us the portal and how to open it. Two… We don't know who we are dealing with. And Three… We aren't leaving Kylie and Madison behind without knowing what happened to them." Faith replied.

The women were walking to the tree line. It was about 100 meters away.

"Damn! We are too exposed… It's too far to the trees…" Faith thought.

The women had made it about half way to the trees when their luck failed. They heard what sounded like thunder in the forest and it was coming closer. The women tensed.

"Get ready to run…" Faith told Lisa and Stacy. Faith had planned to lay down covering fire for her two potentials so that they could make for the tree line.

Suddenly out of the forest on the far side of the clearing came horses with riders on them. The horses galloped across the field. There must have been at least twenty horses and riders, Faith noted.

The riders pulled the reins and stopped the horses about twenty meters from the women surrounding them in a semi-circle.

Faith first thought that riders were human as they appeared human shape from distance. But as the riders got closer she could see that the riders were not human. Their faces were a cross between a lizard and a man. Their skin was a brown green color and they had very sharp teeth from what she could see. Their noses (or what you could call noses) were flat compared to a normal human's nose. They looked like demons which wasn't good news to Faith. The real strange thing, Faith noted, was that the riders were all dressed up in clothes like from medieval times. They were wearing chainmail and armor. They had shields and swords. The bad news was that the riders had their swords drawn.

Upon seeing the swords, Faith knew that in a worse case situation, her and the other potentials could shoot their way out as they had superior firepower, but Faith still had a bad feeling about the whole situation.

"Drop your weapons and surrender!" one of the riders, who was obviously the leader of the group, yelled out to Faith and her two team members.

Faith, Stacy and Lisa tensed up and got ready for the confrontation.

"Why should we?" Faith said as she started to raise her weapon.

"Because if you don't your friends will die and then you will die!" the leader said.

With that said, the leader raised his hand. That was the signal and as Faith watched, from across the clearing out of the forest, several warriors came out and they were holding Kylie and Madison and they had knifes held to the women's throats. Faith was weighing her options when more warriors came out of the woods behind Faith and her potentials and these guys were holding crossbows pointed at her and her potentials.

"Son of a bitch!" Faith said as she lowered her weapon to the ground and she motioned to Stacy and Lisa to lower their weapons as well.

The demon warriors moved in to take them prisoner…

* * *

_Sunnydale, California – September 14, 2004 – 1549 PST_

Kennedy was neither happy nor impressed. Her team was to have gone through their portal at least three hours ago, but one of her team members, a girl named Dallas, had partied too hard the night before and was just to the point that she could move and function to do her job.

Kennedy would have rather gone through and left Dallas behind, but the work required her to have a full team of five members.

Willow was setting up to open the portal and she looked over to Kennedy and noticed that she was fuming over the delay in going. Willow just shook her head as she compared the contrasts between Kennedy and Tara. If it had been Tara, she would have been all laid back and maybe even apologizing for the delay like it was her fault. Willow caught Kennedy's eye and she smiled and winked at Kennedy. It took Kennedy a minute to realize what Willow was trying to communicate and Kennedy just sighed and smiled back and started to relax somewhat.

Willow went ahead and performed her spell and as usual the portal to another dimension formed. Kennedy took her team through.

When Kennedy and her team completed going through the portal, they looked at the world they had arrived on. It was a forest world, but it had an eerie look and feel to it. Some of the trees were dead or dying. The place felt damp and smelled musty from the decay of the forest. There was even a low mist that seemed to cover the forest floor.

Kennedy let out a shudder as the whole place gave her the creeps. She quickly regained focus of the task at hand and gave orders to the other potentials in her team to get to work.

"I'm sure that Faith and her team are having a much better time than us." Kennedy muttered to herself.

* * *

As Kennedy was muttering that statement to herself, Faith and her team were prisoners of the "demon" inhabitants of the world they were on.

After Faith and her two potentials had been disarmed and stripped of their equipment, all the women had had their hands bound with rope. The women were tied together in a line with more rope and were being led by one of the demon warriors on horseback. Faith was walking behind the horse-mounted demon warrior. Behind Faith were Lisa, Stacy, Kylie and Madison. Faith had been able only to briefly talk to Kylie and Madison to check up on them. Kylie was alright other than a few bruises. Madison had been roughed up a little bit more by these demons, but she was managing considering.

Faith observed that these demons that had captured them were no slouches. They were smart and organized, which made a bad situation worse. Faith had heard the leader order some of his "men" to ride ahead to notify someone else. Faith hadn't caught all of it but she heard a name mentioned "Paymon". Faith figured that there had to be someone else higher up in the food chain that this leader reported to.

As they were forced marched and moved further and further from the portal site, Faith was getting even more concerned. Faith knew that they would have to try for an escape, but the longer they waited the further away they were from their return portal. The guards were too alert right now, so any escape was doomed to fail. But how long would she have to wait? She needed time to lull the guards to relax and to not get further away from the portal point.

Faith was also very worried about how the guards were looking at her and her team. Faith watched the guards and they had looks in their eyes like they either would rape or eat them or maybe even both in no particular order. She could feel the tension and the longer they waited the more chances of an "incident".

Faith started to drag her feet more causing the rope that was attached to the rider's horse and her wrists to go tight and that forced the guard to yank on the rope yelling at the prisoners to keep up. Faith kept her gaze down to avert her eyes and acted as the docile and non-threatening prisoner. She wanted to have the guard holding on to the rope to control his defeated prisoners.

As the miles went by, the other warriors in the group surrounding the women were starting to let their guard down as they were going a little bit faster than the rider pulling the walking prisoners.

They had been walking for what seemed like hours down a wooded lined dirt road. The group was just approaching a bend in the road that went around a small wooded hill. Faith thought she heard rushing water. As they rounded the bend, Faith saw that there was a bridge that went over a pretty wide and rushing creek that cut through the road. Faith looked further and off in the distance what seemed only a couple of miles away was a castle… a honest to goodness castle with walls, towers and gate.

Faith knew that once they were within the castle walls they were all screwed. It was going to be now or never. She wanted to do it before they got across the bridge.

The other riders had seen the castle and they had increased their pace to get back there faster. In their haste to get home faster they left the horse-mounted guard and Faith and the other prisoners momentarily by themselves away from the larger group.

Faith moved a little bit faster to get closer to their horse-mounted guard to put some slack in the rope and then she slowed down to let the slack play out. She saw that the guard wasn't paying as much attention as he should. The guard was watching the castle along with the other guards. As the rope played out, Faith had to concentrate on her timing. The rope started to pull tight… There! The guard was about to yank on the rope to pull the prisoners. Faith pulled hard and fast using her Slayer strength. She caught the guard unaware and he was pulled off balance and off his horse.

Faith ran towards the guard on the ground and the guard's horse. The other four women had been taken by surprise by Faith's attack, but they quickly recovered and they followed Faith. The guard was trying to get up and was off balance from the attack. Faith kicked the guard in the face as she ran up to him without breaking stride. The guard fell flat face first and was out cold. Faith grabbed a dagger from the guard and then continued for the horse. Faith and the other women reached the horse. Faith tossed the dagger to Kylie to start cutting their ropes. Faith pulled a sword from its holder on the horse. There was also a loaded crossbow hanging from the saddle and Faith grabbed it as well. Faith could see the other guards that had gone ahead notice what was happening and they were turning around and galloping back. Faith only had moments.

As Kylie was cutting the ropes, Faith told her team. "Everyone make a break for the portal site and get home… I'm going to buy you some time so get going! Split off in pairs and don't group up!"

Faith could see that Kylie was going to protest the order, but Faith quickly shook her head and said, "We aren't all going to make it… This is the only way if anyone is going to have a chance…"

With their rope restraints removed, Kylie, Stacy, Lisa and Madison made a break for freedom. Kylie and Stacy made for the trees back the way they had come and Lisa and Madison made a dash for the creek and for the tree cover there.

As the other demons came galloping back, Faith took position in the middle of the road. As the first rider approached, she drew the crossbow and fired the crossbow at that rider. She saw the look of surprise on that demon's face as he got hit by the bolt and fell from his mount. She quickly dropped the crossbow and picked up the sword. The demons had drawn their own weapons.

"Damn it!" Faith said. These guys weren't stupid. The demon warriors were splitting into groups to track down the two groups of escaping prisoners and attack Faith.

Faith couldn't worry about the others right now as she had her own worries as a demon warrior was riding down on top of her with his sword drawn. As the warrior rode by he swung his blade at Faith. Faith ducked and met his blade with her blade. She registered the shock of surprise on the warrior's face as he had found that he was engaged in combat with someone that had skill and strength.

Faith didn't have much time to bask in surprising her opponent as another rider was bearing down on her. She managed to duck and roll out of his way and came back up into her fighting stance. Faith caught movement out of her eye and saw that three more demons had ridden up and had dismounted. They had drawn their swords and were rushing to attack Faith.

Faith parried and dodged the demon warrior's sword blows. As she was fighting she could only watch helplessly as the two other groups chased after her team members.

She saw Kylie and Stacy being dragged screaming from the forest on horses. She saw the other group of demon warriors use their crossbows and shoot at Madison and Lisa. Faith saw Lisa get hit first and fall to the ground and then Madison took at bolt in the side and fell into the creek.

Faith was pissed off now… She wasn't going down without a fight. The three demon warriors charged her again. She faked moving one way and jumped the other way and as she jumped she used her Slayer strength in a back swing with her sword and took two of the demon warrior's heads off. The third warrior was shocked, but he recovered and was facing Faith again. He was about to lunge in and Faith smiled as she was going to meet his lunge… Faith didn't see the rider coming in from behind her that struck her in the head with his battle mace causing her to collapse unconscious.

The surviving prisoners were either dragged or carried into the castle…


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The Lord Prince Paymon was not a happy being at the moment. The ruler of this realm was a being of terrible temperament and his cruelty knew no bounds. He had been in a good mood when the first dispatch riders came to him informing him that his hunting party had encountered and captured five human women. His good mood turned foul, when he was informed that the prisoners had attempted to escape within sight of his castle walls…

"Two of my warriors dead and three wounded… A prisoner missing and presumed dead… Two other prisoners wounded…" The Lord Prince thought.

That two of his warriors had been decapitated in a single blow by one of the _females _was a revolting and disturbing thought. Humans were only good for working to death, entertainment, sacrificing and eating…

"Bring all the prisoners to my main chamber!" the Lord Prince barked to one of his servants. The servant jumped to make sure that the Lord Prince's order was carried out as the failure to do so was usually quite painful.

The Lord Prince smiled to himself and thought, "There may be entertainment value from these humans…"

* * *

Guards escorted Kylie and Stacy into the Lord Prince's main chamber. The women were followed by more guards dragging a bound and unconscious Faith and a wounded and bleeding Lisa. Lisa was conscious and in lots of pain. The Lord Prince directed his guards to place the wounded Lisa on a bench close to his throne. Faith's body was dropped to the ground in front of the throne. Kylie and Stacy were standing back a bit from Faith's body.

"Someone wake that human up!" the Lord Prince ordered emphasizing the word human with disgust.

One of the guards left and came back with a bucket of water. The guard unceremoniously proceeded to dump the water on Faith's head.

Faith moaned and started to move. Faith wasn't fully conscious or aware of her surroundings.

"Wake that creature up and stand her up!" barked the Lord Prince.

Two guards moved in and picked up Faith roughly shaking her as they picked her up.

Faith was slowly coming to and getting her bearings. She was in a room that must be in the castle she had seen that they were being taken to. As Faith was shaking the cobwebs from her head she found that she was facing a "demon" that was larger than any of their guards. Faith suppressed a shudder as she got a real bad feeling looking at this creature. The creature had a cruel look on its face and its eyes were staring at her trying to appraise her and show its dominance over her. Faith met the creature's stare and refused to be cowed into submission.

As Faith refused to back down the creature spoke, "So this must be the leader that killed two of my warriors…"

The creature continued speaking, "I am Lord Prince Paymon… I am ruler of these lands and everything here belongs to me… You are trespassers on my lands… You now belong to me and you will submit to my will!"

The Lord Prince paused for a moment. Paymon noted with satisfaction that the two females standing behind their leader were fearful and could be broken easily. It was the female leader that interested him. She continued to defy him… He saw the strength in her eyes… This one would not so easily submit. Paymon smiled as he thought of the challenge and fun he would have breaking this one… The things he would do to this female… He would strip away her pride and humility until there was nothing left… He hadn't had a challenge like this in a long time… He would have to relish this… How to start he wondered?

"Why are you here?" Paymon demanded.

Faith looked around at Kylie and Stacy and at Lisa lying on the bench with the arrow still sticking out of her. It looked like the bleeding had stopped from Lisa's wound, but she needed medical attention.

Faith decided to play it slow and easy to buy some time as this demon was no idiot.

"We are looking for someone… A friend of ours that is lost…" Faith responded to Paymon's question.

"Who is this "friend" you are looking for?" Paymon barked.

"It doesn't matter as we know he is not here…" Faith replied.

"And why is that?" Paymon demanded.

"If he was here… You would all be dead…" Faith said with a smile.

* * *

Paymon was taken aback by the female leader's insolence. He scowled at the female. He stood up and walked towards the female leader.

"So you think that you are an equal to me and that you _humans _can stand against me? You are nothing but scum… playthings for me and my warriors to do with as we please… Let's start again…" Paymon said with another smile.

Paymon continued, "You and your fellow females will all kneel before me…"

"Why would I want to?' Faith replied.

Paymon continued smiling and walked over to the bench that the wounded Lisa was laying on.

"It is a shame about your wounded friend here…" Paymon said with an evil glint in his eye.

"Leave her alone you bastard!" Faith yelled at Paymon struggling against her restraints and the guards holding her.

"Such a pretty human… I know my guards would love to taste her delights." Paymon said.

Paymon reached down and twisted the arrow sticking out of Lisa's body.

"Oh God! Nooooooo!" Lisa screamed in agnoy.

"Stop it you frigging bastard!" Faith screamed. Kylie and Stacy were screaming and crying at Paymon to stop torturing Lisa as well.

Lisa was unfortunately still conscious and she was crying and calling for her Mom, Dad, Faith… Calling for anyone to help her…

"Once more shall we… It is music to my ears…" Paymon said with a smile on his face and he reached down and twisted the arrow in Lisa's body again.

Lisa's eye bulged open and she let out a blood curdling scream…

Faith cried out, "Okay… Okay… We're kneeling… Just stop it!"

Faith, Stacy and Kylie proceeded to kneel before the Lord Prince Paymon.

Paymon smiled, "See that wasn't too hard… From now on you will address me properly… You will now say "As you command Lord Master"… Let us hear how our new slaves sound…"

Faith, Kylie and Stacy all repeated with their heads bowed, "As you command Lord Master…"

"Very good slaves!" Paymon said again with a smile.

Paymon started to turn to go sit on his throne again. He paused and looked at Lisa on the bench.

"Such a waste…" Paymon said. With that said in one quick motion, he pulled a dagger and stuck it deep into Lisa's chest.

Lisa was still conscious enough to register what was happing and cried, screamed and hollered as Paymon cut into her chest with his dagger. He then stuck his hand into Lisa's chest and ripped out her heart.

With blood pouring from Lisa's body and the heart briefly spurting blood, Paymon showed the heart to Faith and her two potentials kneeling on the floor. Stacy and Kylie threw up and were crying. Faith felt the bile rise in her throat, but wasn't going to give in. She looked at Paymon with hate in her eyes.

Paymon stared back and he drank the hate in, "Yes this will be most fun…" he thought.

* * *

Paymon's guards took the women to the dungeon cells and locked them together. The guards held the humans in complete contempt. Their Lord Prince had once again shown his superiority over inferior beings and the guards laughed and joked as they escorted the women to their cell. The guards had started to touch the women, but were quickly reprimanded by a superior and reminded that the Lord Prince wanted nothing to happen to these females… at least not yet.

Faith, Stacy and Kylie had been roughly pushed into their cell. Kylie and Stacy each found a spot to sit and they were crying. Faith was pissed off and pacing back and forth in the prison cell like a caged tiger. Faith was all wound up and she wanted Paymon's blood.

Kylie managed to regain her composure somewhat and asked, "Faith what are we going to do?"

"I don't know… We have to escape… We have to wait for an opportunity and then take it!" Faith replied as she was pacing.

Stacy was mumbling, "First Madison now Lisa dead…" Stacy held her face and cried for herself and her dead friends.

Faith stopped her pacing and turned and faced her two potentials, "Okay enough… I'm not going to lie to you… It's really bad… Whatever happens and I mean whatever happens or is done to us the first priority is to stay alive and survive…"

Kylie and Stacy looked to Faith as if she could save them both.

Faith continued speaking, "Focus on the now… Stay calm… When we don't come back, Buffy will come through and she'll find us…"

Kylie interrupted Faith, "I hate to rain on your parade, but we're miles from the portal point and they won't know which direction to start searching… We are so screwed!"

Faith looked at Kylie and said, "I said it was bad, but they will find us… It will only take some time…"

Stacy was sitting on the cell bench with her legs up and hugging them. She was rocking back and forth and mumbling to herself.

Kylie went over and sat next to Stacy and hugged her closely to try and comfort her. Faith resumed her pacing.

"I've lost two people… How many more will I lose before this is over?" Faith thought as she paced.

* * *

While Faith was pacing lamenting the fact that two of her team were dead. One of her "dead" team members was struggling her way through the woods to get back to their portal point and home.

Madison had taken a crossbow bolt in her side. She had been lucky on several points. First, the bolt that struck her didn't hit any vital organs or arteries. Second, Madison had fallen in the creek. The creek was deep enough and had a fast enough current to wash her downstream which was back in the general direction towards the portal point. This took her away from immediate pursuit by the demon warriors. Third, the cold water should have killed Madison from exposure (and it nearly was), but it was enough to slow down the blood loss from her wound.

After being washed downstream for a while, Madison managed to gather her strength to pull herself out of the water. She had enough presence of mind to maintain her sense of direction and had a general idea of where the portal was.

Madison focused and tried to remember everything from all her training. She thought of pulling the crossbow bolt out, but she remembered that pulling it out might cause more damage and bleeding and she could pass out and then bleed out. Madison carefully removed her coat and then tore her shirt off. She used the torn shirt to pack around her wound to stop or at least minimize the bleeding. Then she put her coat back on and started to make her way back to the portal point.

Madison was determined to get back and get help for the others. That was her focus in the here and now. Madison tripped and fell a few times and that aggravated her wound and the bleeding would start up again.

Madison was scared that she had become lost as the sun was going down and she despaired that she would be lost out here and pass out and die. Madison had tears running down her face as she was afraid that she had failed Faith and the others.

Madison was almost ready to give up and lie down and close her eyes, when she finally stumbled upon the clearing they arrived in. She gathered what energy reserves she had left and went to the place that she and her team had entered this world.

Madison made it to the portal point! She could feel herself starting to lose consciousness. She focused and managed to say the words for the return spell.

"_Patefacio is limina, domum_"

Madison watched as the portal reopened and she staggered forward and stumbled into the portal and home…


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_Sunnydale, California – September 14, 2004 – 1849 PST_

The warehouse was a hive of activity. Buffy stormed into the conference room. Willow, Giles, Xander and Anya were present.

"How's Madison?" Buffy asked with concern.

"Not good… She's in and out of consciousness right now. She was mumbling something about demons on horseback and a castle…" Giles replied.

Giles continued, "She needs better care than we can provide for her here…"

Everyone had been not taking much notice when the return portal opened in the training area as everyone had become used to the routine. That quickly changed to shock as Madison stumbled out of the portal and collapsed bleeding with an arrow sticking out of her side. Since then Buffy had been organizing the potentials into a rescue team to go through and look for the rest of Faith's team, but they were lacking information as to what had happened.

"If she goes into a hospital it could be hours or days before we can get any info. We need to know what we are dealing with now!" Buffy said.

"Buff… Madison needs a real doctor or a medic and other than the basic first aid we…" Xander spoke and trailed off as he saw a look in Buffy's eye.

"What?" Xander asked.

"You said Madison needed a doctor or medic… I know someone that can help…"

* * *

Riley was breaking the speed limit on his drive through Sunnydale to the warehouse.

Riley was concentrating on the drive, but his mind was wandering to the unexpected phone call he got from Buffy. She hadn't provided much in the way of details other than that there had been some casualties and they needed medical assistance and if Riley could help. Riley hadn't hesitated and said yes. He stopped to grab one of his team members who had more field medical experience and whatever supplies they had on hand and rushed out the door.

"Jesus… Slow down will you! I've felt safer driving through Kabul…" spoke the agent sitting in the passenger seat and who was currently holding on to the dash board for dear life as Riley was weaving in and out of traffic at high speed.

"If Buffy called for help and said they had causalities that means it had to have been pretty bad." Riley replied.

"That may be boss, but we have to get there alive to be of any use…" the agent said.

Riley continued to concentrate on the drive. He could see that they were getting closer to the warehouse gate.

Suddenly a voice spoke out of the vehicle's OnStar system startling both Riley and the other agent, "I see you approaching Agent Finn… The gate is opening. Head to your right. The loading bay door will be open for you to drive in…"

"Jesus Adriana! I almost lost control there…" Riley said.

"I think I did…" was all that the other agent said from the passenger seat.

Riley saw the open gate and drove into the warehouse ground and into the open loading bay area…

* * *

Buffy, Giles and Xander were outside the room where Madison was being cared for. Riley and his fellow agent named Dave were inside taking a look at Madison's injuries. Buffy was getting wound up and she needed to do something rather than wait around.

As Buffy was doing her pacing, the door to the room opened and Riley came out.

"Is she going to be alright?" asked Buffy.

"She's in rough shape…" replied Riley.

"Shouldn't you be in there doing something?" Xander said.

"Dave is a better field medic than I am… He's doing everything he can to stabilize her."

Riley turned to Buffy, "So what happened?" he asked.

"We don't know much. Faith and her team went through a portal to look for Michael this morning and hours later Madison stumbles through a portal injured. She did mention something about a castle, demons and horses…" Buffy said.

"Is that it?" Riley asked again.

"It's all we got for now…" replied Buffy.

The door to the room opened and the agent named Dave came out. He was wiping his hands with a towel to clean the blood off.

Everyone turned to face the agent.

Dave spoke, "Okay I have stabilized her for now… She needs a major blood transfusion and a surgeon… I can make a call and pull in a few markers to get a medi-evac chopper in here in less than 45 minutes and get her to a military hospital… with no questions asked."

"Is she conscious? Did she say anything?" Buffy asked eagerly.

"I thought you might need to talk to her… I have given her something to make her lucid and responsive for now, but she is going to crash hard so whatever you need to ask you better do it now…" Dave said.

"Thanks Dave…" Riley said.

"All in a day's work boss…" Dave said smiling.

Everyone went back into the room to see Madison and to hopefully get some answers to what had happened…

* * *

Kennedy and her team were busy doing their search mission on their world unaware of what had happened and was happening back home.

Kennedy and her team were on a dank and dreary world. It gave everyone the creeps. The faster they could finish the better.

Kennedy and her team had been on this world for several hours, they had come through later than what they would have normally, but they had been delayed going by one of the potentials. The sun on this world was just starting to begin its descent for sunset.

Two of the potentials were walking around the area where the beacon was being setup. Their names were Dallas and Dana or as they liked to refer to themselves "The Double D's" They had been instant friends ever since they had met when they came to Sunnydale. They had survived the Battle of the Hellmouth and were having fun with this travel between universes/dimensions.

Dallas had been the reason the team had been delayed in its mission as she'd had too much fun at The Bronze nightclub the night before.

"You still look like shit Dallas! Are you feeling any better?" asked Dana laughing.

"I don't know… Is my head still attached?" Dallas said with a crooked smile.

"You've got to learn how to pace yourself… Otherwise this is the result…" Dana said jokingly.

The young women kept up the banter as it eased the tension of being in such a creepy place.

They heard Kennedy call in over their com headset.

"How's it look?" Kennedy asked.

Dana replied back, "Everything looks clear… No problems."

"We've got another hour here and then we're heading home… Copy?" Kennedy said over the com channel.

"Copy… Out" replied Dana.

"Ick… Another hour here in this place…" said Dallas with a grimace on her face.

Both women failed to notice that the light mist that floated on the ground was getting thicker and starting to rise…

* * *

Buffy was in the conference room. Sitting at the table looking at her was Willow, Giles, Xander, Anya, Riley and Dave who was one of the agents from Riley's team.

Buffy spoke, "From the info that Madison was able to give us. Faith and the rest of her team were captured by a group of demons that were carrying medieval type weapons… swords crossbows. That isn't a problem because we can outgun them easily. The problem is that Madison thinks that the group was taken into a castle…"

Buffy paused for a moment and then continued, "Madison was able to give us the direction to the castle from the portal point, but beyond that we are flying blind. I have twenty potentials armed and ready to go through the portal…"

Xander interrupted, "Whoa Buffy… It's one thing to defend against ubervamps coming out of the Hellmouth, but its way different to be talking about storming castles…"

"We have to do something to rescue them!" Buffy said getting frustrated.

Giles spoke up, "I agree that we must do something, but Xander is correct. This is completely out of our depth and experience… This would be more of a military operation." Giles looked towards the two agents who both shifted uncomfortably under Giles's gaze.

Adriana spoke, "Giles is correct with his statement… This type of operation would either be classified as a siege/assault scenario or a small special ops team could try to gain entry to the castle and use superior firepower to suppress the garrison inside."

Buffy looked at the two agents, more specifically she looked at Riley. "Can you help us?" Buffy asked.

Riley looked at Buffy and then at Dave. Dave shrugged his shoulders and answered Buffy, "I can say that "officially" Washington would be concerned and would take the matter under advisement and consult on potential scenario situations and operational plans."

"And "unofficially"?" asked Buffy.

Dave sighed, "I know what your group has been through and I admire what you've done… beating back hordes from hell and such, but you pissed off a lot of people in Washington and they would like nothing better than to see you left dangling in the wind…"

Buffy looked at Riley, "Is that your position?" Buffy asked.

Riley met Buffy's stare… "Officially yes…"

Buffy was starting to feel like the rug was being pulled out from underneath her.

Riley continued, "Unless I was invited "unofficially" to supervise and witness a field exercise by your group that so happened to be in a different dimension/universe…" he said smiling at Buffy.

Dave saw where Riley was going, "Pretty weak boss… They will probably crucify you for going off the reservation on this one… But for me… I don't know nothing as I will be unavailable for the next few hours transporting a special patient for medical care." Dave said with a smile.

"Thanks Dave." Riley said

"Da nada boss…" replied the other agent.

"Okay… Riley and I will lead our group through the portal. We will scout the castle and if an opportunity presents itself… We move in and rescue Faith and her team." Buffy said

Dave and Riley exchanged glances. Their military experience told them that impromptu and improvised plans rarely end well in military operations. But both of them could see that Buffy was determined and stubborn enough to do what she wanted to do.

"Boss… I got to go and get the patient ready for transport… The chopper will be here in less than 10." Dave said as he stood up. He added to everyone in the room, "Best of luck and good hunting…"

Everyone watched as the agent left the room to prep Madison for medical evacuation.

"Okay, so Riley and I will lead the potentials through and at a minimum gather more info on whom we are dealing with. It should be night time there, so we can move quickly and quietly without hopefully attracting any attention."

"What about Kennedy and her team? Wouldn't you want to wait until they are back to add them to your group?" Willow asked.

"They left late and they'll be gone for several more hours at least… The longer we wait the less chance we have of getting Faith and the rest of her team back alive…" Buffy said.

"We go with what we've got…" Buffy said to end the meeting.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

_Location: 5414 Erde-Tyrene Research Installation – Date: September 14, 2004 (estimated)_

I heard my name being called over the installation's communication system.

"What's up Virgil? You called? I asked.

"Yes Michael…" came the always cheerful electronic voice of my current AI companion.

The AI continued, "I have good news today…"

"That's great! What is it?" I asked eagerly.

"I have completed final repairs on your battle armor… It should be ready for a full power up test and then you should be able to put the armor back on and perform some field testing of all systems…" the AI said with what seemed like pride and excitement in his voice.

Well this was a good way to start off my day. To finally get my battle armor back and in working condition too.

"You didn't change the paint job on it did you?" I said jokingly to Virgil.

"I did not make any changes to the color of the armor… Did you wish to have the armor color changed Michael?" the AI responded somewhat confused as he didn't get the joke.

"No Virgil… I like the green color…" I said smiling.

"Your armor should be ready for you to wear within the hour…" Virgil said.

"Thanks Virgil… It's much appreciated." I said.

I sat around restlessly for the next hour waiting on Virgil to complete his tests on my battle armor. Finally I received the signal from Virgil.

"Your battle armor has successfully completed all power up tests. I certify that the armor is ready to wear and will function to its full capabilities… however limiting they are" Virgil stated.

"Be nice Virgil… That armor has saved my life on more than one occasion." I repled.

I made my way to the lab on level four where my battle armor had been since I had arrived at this installation. I had only been in the lab once to look at my battle armor after I first arrived here. When seeing how damaged my armor was, I was not holding out hopes that it could be successfully repaired, but I was in the lab now and looking at my armor standing in a holding rack. It looked like it had just come straight off the factory production line.

"If you like, you may now begin field tests of the battle armor to check for any abnormalities or deficiencies." Virgil said with evident pride in his voice from the job he had performed.

I stripped out of my boots and work suit and put the armor on. I could feel the armor power up and I could feel my neural interface connect with the suit.

"Whoaaaa… What a rush!" I said. Putting on my battle armor had never felt like this.

"What did you do Virgil?" I asked with some hesitation if I really wanted to know the answer.

The AI responded, "Michael I was quite worried about the limitations of your armor design. I took it upon myself to make some "minor" modifications to your armor to get as much efficiency out of this design… I am sorry I could not do more.

"Do more? This feels great! I actually feel stronger… I have got to go outside and try this out." I said excitedly.

I grabbed my helmet and raced down the ramp and outside the installation like an excited boy going out to play.

As I headed out the installation's main door, I heard a familiar voice.

"Hello Michael…."

* * *

I stopped in my tracks… It was Tala.

"Hi Tala. " I replied.

Ever since Tala and I had spent the night together and she had declared her love for me, I was having a hard time being around her. I wasn't avoiding her, but being around her made it so tempting to have a repeat of our night together. I knew that Faith would "probably" forgive one indiscretion, but if it happened two times… then I think I would rather do an orbital drop naked on to a Covenant home world than face an angry Slayer.

"I see that you have your... What did you call it? …Battle armor back. The temple Guardian has fixed it?" Tala spoke.

"Yeah… Finally… I had felt out of place without it…" I replied.

"So this means you will be leaving soon?" Tala asked with some hesitation.

"I don't know… Virgil… uhh… I mean the Guardian hasn't had much luck finding my home yet." I replied.

We both stood there in awkward silence…

Tala spoke first breaking the awkward silence, "Did I do something to offend you or make you mad?" she asked.

I was having difficulty dealing with this type of situation as I'd only had one intimate relationship in my life and that was with Faith. I tried approaching this as a standard military operation… March straight into the guns…

"Tala… You've done nothing wrong… In a different place or different time I would be happy to be with you, but I told you that I loved Faith…" I said looking into her eyes.

I could see the tears forming and her voice caught as she spoke, "Do you love me? Do you even care for me?"

I thought about it for a moment and I gave it some serious thought before I replied.

"I do care about you… I think I even love you, but it's just that my feelings are for Faith. She is where I need to be and who I need to be with…" I said and I could hear the emotion catch in my voice.

"Michael I will always be grateful to you for saving my life and my brother's life. I will always treasure this time and the night we spent together, but I don't know if I can see you anymore as it breaks my heart to look at you…" Tala said with tears running down her face.

Tala started to leave. I reached out and grabbed her hand. With my battle armor on she was as light as a feather to hold on to.

I moved closer to her, "I would hate to lose a good friend such as you… I know I hurt you and it will take time to get over it, but I still want to be your friend." I said honestly.

"I… I don't know. I will need to think about it." Tala replied back.

"Thank you." I said and this time I leaned down and kissed her. This time I was thinking of Tala when we kissed.

* * *

After I had kissed Tala, she left to walk back to her village. I watched her walk away holding herself. I was feeling pretty shitty about how the whole situation had gone down, because I knew I could love Tala and probably stay here and be happy. But I knew that I had to find Faith and I had no idea how long it would take… if ever. It wouldn't have been fair to Tala to leave her here waiting on a slim hope that we would be together. She was no second place prize, she deserved some happiness from someone that was going to be here 24/7.

I filed the moment away as another learning experience on my road of emotional and relationship development. I was hoping that I wouldn't be encountering anymore landmines on this road.

It was time to put this suit through some paces. I was doing some running and jumping around the installation when a com light came up on my helmet display.

"What the hell?' I said puzzled.

I accessed the message… I could hardly believe what I was reading.

"You brilliant sons of bitches!" I yelled out.

I was looking at a message that was coming in on a Spartan-only com channel and it was addressed to me… It had an IFF transponder signal imbedded in it. I had my com system lock on to the signal and had my NAV system plot which direction it was coming from.

The signal was coming from the installation. Now I was puzzled. I was trying to figure out what was going on when the signal suddenly cut out. Now I was puzzled and frustrated.

I opened a com channel and called Virgil, "What are you doing right now?"

"I am currently opening mini-portals to scan other universes for signals." Virgil replied.

I wasn't sure what was happening, but I had a feeling and went with it.

"Virgil, this is very important… Did you just close a portal to a universe?" I asked trying not to get my hopes up.

"Yes Michael, I had just closed the portal. I was just about to open and scan another universe. Is there something wrong?" Virgil asked.

Trying to keep my excitement in check I asked Virgil another question, "Did you pick up any electronic signals or traffic from that last universe you scanned?"

"No Michael. I picked up no electronic traffic of any audio or video sources using the parameters you provided." Virgil replied still puzzled.

Damn… It was my fault… I had been to focused on finding my way home that I never gave it any thought that Faith, Adriana and the rest would come looking for me. I had been too rigid in my search parameters, so Virgil wouldn't have been looking for this IFF signal, but my battle armor would pick it up.

"Virgil… Don't move and don't lose that last universe's address… I'm coming up to you!"

As I ran for the installation to get back inside and up to Virgil, he asked with concern, "What is wrong Michael?"

"Nothing Virgil… I think you just found my way home…" I replied.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Kennedy was standing around by the beacon with two other potentials named Melissa and Trisha. The beacon had been set up and it appeared to be working. The team had spent several hours and then some on this creepy forest world.

Kennedy felt it was time to go home. She called up on her com headset, "Dana… Dallas… We're done here… Bring it in and let's go home."

Dana replied back with some relief in her voice, "Sounds good we're ready to go…. Uh… I have a question?"

"What's up?" asked Kennedy.

"Where you guys are… Is the mist getting thicker and rising higher?"

"Uh… No… It's fine here… Why?" asked a puzzled Kennedy.

"Well it's getting thicker where we are and it's rising fast!" Dana said with some concern in her voice now.

"Well hurry back and keep your com channels open." Kennedy replied.

* * *

Dana and Dallas started moving quickly back to the portal point and the rest of their team. They were both getting worried. The fog, mist or whatever it was had come in and was now surrounding them… Their visibility was being reduced quickly. They had been only 200 meters out, but they were lucky if they could see 10 meters ahead now and it was getting worse.

"Stay close Dallas." Dana said, "I would hate to lose you in this fog…"

The fog seemed to envelope them and suddenly they could barely see their hands in front of their faces…

Dallas became disoriented in the fog. She was calling out for Dana, "Dana where are you? Don't leave me behind please!" she pleaded.

Dana replied, "I'm not going anywhere without you… Just listen to my voice and try to find me…"

Dana kept talking and Dallas was trying to find her, but the sounds seem to come from every direction. As Dallas was stumbling through the fog, she thought she could hear something moving towards her. She called out, "Dana is that you?"

She barely had time to register the paw and sharp claws that came out of the fog and slashed at her. The claws slashed her throat and Dallas could only register surprise on her face and let out a gurgling sound as the blood flowed from her slashed neck artery. Dallas collapsed to the ground without saying a word and the fog covered her over.

* * *

Dana was starting to panic. One moment she could her Dallas calling for her and now it was silence. She thought she heard some other noises but it could just be the fog messing with her hearing…

Dana called for Kennedy on the headset.

"I've lost Dallas and I can't find my way back to you." Dana reported trying to keep herself together and not lose it.

Kennedy responded, "Hang on we'll try and signal so you can get a direction to us."

Kennedy and the other two members of her team started yelling and Kennedy even fired a couple of shots from her weapon to try and guide Dana back.

"Can you hear us? Can you see anything?" Kennedy said with her worry growing moment by moment.

Kennedy could hear the panic growing in Dana's voice as she spoke, "I can hear you, but I can't tell which direction… God… Where am I?"

Dana was trying to keep in control but it was a losing battle. She was stumbling in the fog. She tripped over something and fell to the ground. As she felt along the ground, she put her hand into something warm and sticky. As she pulled out her hand she could see the blood covering it. Dana could feel the cold fear growing inside and she knew she was going to lose it. She crawled on the ground where she had fallen and the fog cleared enough and she saw the bloody remains of Dallas.

Dana screamed…

Kennedy, Melissa and Trisha heard Dana's scream. Kennedy called out for Dana desperately on the com headset to respond.

Kennedy could hear Dana sobbing on the com channel, "She's dead… Something tore her apart… Oh God… I can hear something… Please help me… I wanna go home… Please…"

Kennedy and the others heard a couple of gunshots and then a horrible scream shattered the quiet of the woods…

* * *

I had reached Virgil in the control room. Virgil had brought up information on a display terminal about the last universe he had scanned.

"Michael, I have the information up and I inputted the universal co-ordinates into the dimensional transport system. What are your plans?" Virgil asked.

"Can you reopen a mini-portal and we can confirm if the signal is coming from there?" I asked.

"Yes I can Michael… What is your plan after that?" asked the AI.

"We open a bigger one and I go through and check it out…" I stated.

I waited impatiently as Virgil went through the steps to reopen the portal. Thoughts were racing through my mind.

"Virgil?" I said.

"Yes Michael…" the AI replied.

"If I go through a portal…ummmm… How do I get back here?" I asked sheepishly.

Virgil had already planned for this and answered my question, "I have already taken that into consideration. I have outfitted a Forerunner dimensional recall device into your battle armor. You can access the controls through your normal systems using your authentication command… The device will reopen a portal to this installation…"

Virgil continued, "I must advise that the recall device requires a 14 hour recharge between uses, so you will have to be sure that you want to return to this installation when you activate the recall device."

"Thank you Virgil… I do plan on coming back. I won't leave you alone for another 100,000 years." I said.

"Thank you Michael… that would be most pleasant. I have enjoyed your company here and would miss it." Virgil said with what sounded like emotion in his voice.

We had an awkward moment of silence.

"The portal is reopening…" Virgil reported.

Almost immediately, a com signal started flashing on my helmet display.

"That confirms it Virgil… So now what?" I asked.

"I will have to close this portal… You can now go down to the transport room on sub-level two. I will activate the system to perform a full scale transport and you will be sent to the other universe… From there you can investigate the signal…" Virgil reported.

"How long till we can go?" I asked trying to keep my impatience in check.

"System reset will require 20 minutes…" Virgil replied.

"Sounds good… Just enough time for me to pack…" I said and went off to get my equipment and head for sub-level 2.

* * *

I had reached the transport room. As I went into the room, I noted how it looked similar to the other transport room on the Forerunner planet from my universe.

I did another check of my equipment… I had my pulse rifle with my last full clip loaded and one grenade. I had my shotgun loaded with 8 rounds and 4 extra rounds and my combat knife.

I stood in the room waiting

Virgil spoke, "Michael we can start in one minute…"

"You can begin anytime Virgil." I said excitedly.

I was getting closer to home I could start to taste it. My Spartan training kicked in and told me to relax… Most problems occurred when you thought you were in the clear or close to home. You relaxed and you tended to let down your guard and that is when bad things happened… I checked my pulse rifle again… Nothing was going to get in my way…

"Michael I am ready to activate the portal…" Virgil spoke with some sadness in his voice.

I asked Virgil for a favor, "Virgil… If something happens to me… Can you tell Tala that I'm sorry…"

I couldn't think of anything else to say that could put my feelings and our relationship in perspective.

"Yes Michael… I can do that." replied the somber sounding AI.

"Thank you Virgil… Thank you for everything." I said showing my genuine and heartfelt thanks to the AI that had saved my life and was helping me get home.

I heard Virgil's last words, "Activating transport now…"

My universe turned white and I felt nothing once again…


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Faith had finally calmed down enough to sit down on a cell bed for more than a five minute stretch. She watched Kylie and Stacy huddled together on the other dungeon cell bed. It appeared that the other women had fallen asleep from the exhaustion and stress from everything they had endured. Faith could only wish for such a rest as her mind was racing. She was trying to think of a way to escape. She tried to think what Buffy or Michael would have done in this situation… She sighed as she depressingly thought that neither one of them would have allowed themselves to get caught like this.

Faith blamed herself for the whole situation …for Madison's and Lisa's death and for what she had a pretty good idea of what her and her potentials were going to face. She wanted to kill that Paymon bastard at the first opportunity she had, but she knew that she would probably die shortly after that and she was still responsible for Kylie and Stacy. She needed to stay alive and protect them. She would have to endure whatever happened to her for them.

Faith had lost track of time, when she heard loud voices outside the cell. She got up to look out the small view port in her cell door. She craned her neck to see what was going on. From what Faith could see, she saw a large group of the demon warriors gathered down the corridor. Faith could she them laughing and gesturing towards their cell. Faith had a bad feeling…

She saw the demons turn and walk down the corridor towards their cell. Faith moved away from the door and over to where Kylie and Stacy were asleep. Faith quickly and roughly shook both women to wake them up…

"Kylie… Stacy… Wake up now!" Faith said in a loud whisper trying to wake the potentials up.

Both women opened their eyes groggily.

"Wh… What's happening?" asked Kylie worriedly.

"The guards are coming… Whatever happens stay behind me and remember your first duty is to survive…" Faith said to both women.

Kylie's and Stacy's eyes widened with fear at Faith's words and they moved to the far end of the cell away from the door.

Faith stood between her teammates and the door and waited. She could hear the guards getting closer to the cell. Faith tried to concentrate, but she was scared too. She probably had a better idea of what was going to happen to all of them than Kylie and Stacy did, but in this case ignorance would have been blissful. Faith heard the guards sticking the key into the cell door lock and she took a breath and tried to ready herself.

The cell door opened and there were four demon guards standing in the entrance. Faith saw the looks in their eyes and she knew it was going to be bad. She could see the guard's eyes look her and the other women over and they were licking their lips.

One of the guards spoke, "I want this one!" pointing at Faith. "She looks like she would be fun to have…"

"Idiot!" One of the other guards said slapping the head of the guard that was pointing at Faith.

That guard continued, "That is their leader… She is for Lord Prince Paymon… She is not to be touched… From what I understand the Lord Prince is preparing his chambers to "entertain" this human slave."

This caused the other guards to look and leer at Faith's body and laugh at the thought of what their Lord Prince was going to do to this female.

Faith swallowed hard and tried not to show any fear. She continued to stand between the guards and Kylie and Stacy.

The first guard then pointed at the terrified Stacy, "How about that one then? She is pleasing to the eye and has an innocent look to her…"

One of the other guards said, "I don't know how innocent she'll be after we've all finished with her…" This caused all the guards to laugh and look at Stacy and lick their lips.

Stacy's eyes widened even more and she tried to move back further into the cell, but there was nowhere to go to. The guards started to move into the cell. Faith stayed between them and Stacy and Kylie.

"Come on boys… Why would you want to have her? I can show all of you how to party and have a real good time." Faith said trying to sound lusty.

She needed to deflect their attention from Stacy as Faith knew that Stacy wouldn't probably survive the entertaining these bastards had in mind.

Faith kept up the act, "Come guys… I could probably show and do things that you haven't even imagined…"

Faith could see that she was getting the guards' attention with her act, but their fear of their Lord Prince was greater that their desires.

"Enough! Now move aside!" one of the guards shouted.

Faith moved aside slightly and the guards started to pass by her and reach for Stacy. Stacy was trying to scramble up the wall and was starting to cry and scream as the guard's hands reached for her.

Faith stepped into a guard at the back of the pack and drove her knee into his mid-section. As the guard doubled over holding himself, Faith put her hands together and brought them down like a club across the back of the guard's neck. Faith heard a satisfying crunch when she did that.

The remaining three guards were caught by surprise. They were momentarily disoriented as they had to shift their mind set from one of appeasing their lusts to now defending themselves. Faith had the advantage for now and was using short jabbing blows with her fists and quick kicks to keep the guards off balance. Kylie jumped one of the guards from behind and she tried to hold on, but the guard managed to grab a hold of Kylie and throw her against the cell wall knocking the wind out of her. Stacy was frozen in fear as she had lost control when she saw the guards coming to take her away.

Faith kept fending off the guard's blows and landing some good quality shots of her own, but she knew this was a losing cause as she could hear more guards running down the corridor towards their cell.

Five more guards arrived at the cell and they quickly appraised the situation and stormed in. Faith knew it was the end as she was now badly outnumbered, but she kept fighting.

One of the guards had a club and caught her across the head. Faith was stunned and then the guard clubbed her again in the head and Faith fell to the ground.

Faith was barely conscious, but she could register that the guards were continuing to strike her on the ground. She took another blow in the head from a heavy boot and she thankfully lost consciousness and did not feel being dragged out of the cell or her clothes being ripped…

* * *

I became conscious of where I was… It took me a moment to gather my bearings. I was on a forest world… It had a dank deathly look to it. There was a light mist hanging on the floor of the forest. It gave the whole place an eerie look to it.

I did a systems and weapons check. Whatever "modifications" that Virgil made to my battle armor it seemed to have hardened the systems against the EM fields of inter-dimensional transport as my suit systems barely registered a drop as compared to the first time I jumped universes.

I still had the beacon on my NAV system and the signal was coming in even stronger now. My NAV system showed I was about 15 kilometers from the beacon. It wasn't too far for me. I didn't hesitate and started to jog to the beacon as I didn't want to waste any more time as the sun was starting to go down.

* * *

Kennedy and the remnants of her team were in a bad situaton. After hearing the shots and Dana's screams, Kennedy had vainly called for her on the com channel with no reply. Melissa had made the suggestion that they should get out of here. Kennedy hated to leave, but it made sense.

The group turned around to head to the portal point to open the way home when out of nowhere this fog came up and started to envelope them. The fog cut them off from where they needed to go to open the portal. Kennedy didn't want to stand around and wait for whatever took out Dallas and Dana to get her and the rest of her team. Kennedy and the rest of her team started moving to where the fog wasn't the thickest and were now moving backwards to keep an eye on the fog as it seemed to be following them.

Kennedy had hoped that maybe they could circle around and get to the portal point, but the fog seemed to be herding them. Kennedy and the other women had their weapons unslung and the safeties off.

As Kennedy and her team moved backwards through the woods, she realized that they were moving further and further from their portal point and that the sun was getting ready to set. When it got dark, they would surely be boned by whatever was out there in the fog.

Out of the corner of her eye, Kennedy saw a large rock formation that seemed to push out of the floor of the forest. There were huge boulders and it looked like there might be cover there that they could use.

Kennedy whispered to Melissa and Trisha, "See those rocks over there… Start making your way over there… Get ready to run just in case and make sure to find some cover."

The other two potentials nodded their heads in understanding and the group turned their direction to make their way to the rock outcropping in the forest.

The fog seemed to shift direction and was trying to keep Kennedy and her team away from the rocks, but Kennedy was going to have none of that.

"Run!" Kennedy yelled and they all made a sprint for the rocks. They reached the rocks ahead of the fog and found that the rock outcropping formed a kind of cul de sac. There were large rocks in the cul de sac that Kennedy quickly directed Melissa and Trisha to take cover behind.

Kennedy quickly made a note of their defensive position. There was only one way in, but only one way out. The rocks surrounding the cul de sac were at least 15 feet high and smooth so there was no way of climbing up and over. They did have cover and they had weapons and some ammo. The plan would now be to wait out what was out there until morning or until someone back home came through to look for them.

Kennedy was starting to feel somewhat optimistic. They had a relatively good defensive position. The fog seemed to stop advancing on them. It couldn't get any worse…

Kennedy thought she could hear something moving in the fog. She couldn't make out what was there. There was still enough light from the setting sun that it appeared that the fog was starting to thin out. Kennedy let out a slight sigh as it appeared that maybe they had avoided trouble.

As the fog started to thin out she could start to make out what appeared to be red glowing eyes… lots of red glowing eyes… The fog continued to dissipate and she could now make out forms attached to the glowing red eyes… She saw that the forms were four-legged creatures… The fog cleared enough to see the creatures staring at her and her team… Kennedy was looking at large creatures that looked like a cross between a wolf and a demon… These demon-wolves bared their sharp teeth and started snarling at the women… There were lots of these creatures… It had gotten worse.

"Shit!" Kennedy said and opened fire with her weapon. Melissa and Trisha started firing as well.

The demon-wolves charged towards the defensive position…

* * *

Lord Prince Paymon was in a foul mood. He was making his way down to the dungeon cells. One of his servants had reported about a "disturbance" with the female prisoners. He had been happily preparing his chambers to "entertain" the female leader. He had been so looking forward to the night's entertainment, now he was heading to the dungeon.

He arrived as his guards were dragging his prized prisoner unconscious from the cell and saw them starting to rip at her clothes.

"ENOUGH!" the Lord Prince bellowed.

The guards immediately jumped up and away from Faith's body as their Lord Prince approached them.

"What is going on here?" demanded the Lord Prince.

One of the guards started speaking trying to explain what had happened, "My Lord Prince… This prisoner attacked us and tried to escape… We had to defend ourselves and put this creature in her place…"

Paymon walked up to the cell stepping over Faith's unconscious body. He looked in the cell and saw one female curled up in the corner holding herself with her eyes wide open. Paymon saw the other female lying against the cell wall. That female was slowly moving. Paymon had a pretty good idea of what had happened. He turned around and stepped back into the corridor. He motioned to the Captain of his personal guard that had followed him down. The captain came to his Lord Prince.

"What is it you want my Lord Prince?" the captain asked.

Paymon looked at the guards that had ruined his evening, "Gut them and then cut off their heads…" he said nonchalantly.

Paymon's personal guards moved in and dragged the screaming dungeon guards off to their fate.

Paymon bent down to look at Faith's unconscious body. "What a shame and waste…" he thought.

"What a nice form she has… I would have enjoyed myself immensely…" Paymon thought as he continued to leer at Faith's body.

As he was leering at her body, he noticed under her torn shirt just above her left breast a marking on her skin. He moved the shirt enough to see the marking. It was a number… 113. He shrugged as it meant nothing to him… Maybe it was of some significance where this female came from… Maybe he would ask if the female recovered.

"Have this prisoner put back in her cell…" Paymon ordered the remaining fearful guards.

As the guards jumped to obey their Lord Prince, Paymon thought again, "I do hope she recovers as it would be such a waste…"

* * *

Kennedy and her team were blazing away. They were trying to maintain fire discipline to conserve their ammo, but there were so many of these demon-wolves and it took several rounds to put one down.

The creatures kept charging into the cul de sac position and Kennedy and her team mates would drive them off.

"I've only got two clips left!" Melissa hollered to Kennedy.

"Three here!" yelled Trisha.

Kennedy only had three spare magazine clips for her weapon left. Kennedy looked around. They could fall back further into the cul de sac as there were more rocks to take cover behind.

"Melissa… Trisha… Fall back I'll cover you!" Kennedy yelled to her team mates.

Kennedy watched as her two team mates moved to fall back. The creatures sensed something and started moving forward and Kennedy fired another 3-shot burst from her assault rifle. Once she saw that Melissa and Trisha were in position, Kennedy made a dash for them. Kennedy made it to cover, but could see the creatures moving up the cul de sac.

"What do we do when we run out of ammo?" Trisha asked trying to keep the panic from her voice.

"I don't know about you, but I'll use whatever is handy as I don't plan on dying here…" Kennedy replied.

The demon-wolves continued moving up slowly. Kennedy and her surviving team members resumed firing…

* * *

I was about 3 kilometers from the beacon according to my NAV system. It had been a quiet jog through the woods. Nothing moved and no sounds… That didn't really bother me… It was when my audio sensors picked up the faint sounds of what sounded like gun fire and it appeared to be coming from the general direction of the beacon point that I got concerned.

"It can never be easy can it?" I sighed.

I double checked my pulse rifle and shotgun and double-timed it towards the sound of the gun fire…

As I got closer to the beacon point, my motion sensor display started showing targets… lots of targets. My suit's threat analysis computer started immediately cataloging and identifying hostiles and friendlies… There were a lot of red hostile targets. I had three green friendly targets appear. I was at least 700 meters from their position. The friendlies were about 400 meters from the beacon position. I made my way to come up behind the friendlies to provide support.

* * *

"I'm out!" Melissa cried out.

Trisha yelled, "Last clip!"

Kennedy was on her last full clip as well. They had put up a hell of a fight. The cul de sac was littered with demon-wolf bodies, but there were still more of the creatures coming.

The end was near and the women would fight as long as they could. Kennedy was pissed off that she never had a chance to say good-bye to Willow.

Kennedy heard as Trisha fired her last round and then Kennedy's weapon suddenly stopped firing and was making the "click" "click" sound indicating an empty magazine. Kennedy grabbed the barrel of her assault rifle and was getting ready to use it as a club. Her other team mates followed suit. The demon-wolves now sensed that the danger from this prey had gone away and were slowly advancing towards their meal.

The demon-wolves moved closer and they got ready to strike down their prey. Kennedy watched as two of the demon-wolves sprung up and were going to pounce on her and her team. She tensed and was going to hit back with her rifle, but she knew she was looking at death coming at her.

Suddenly there was a loud buzzing sound and Kennedy and her team could only look in shock as the leaping demon-wolves were shredded in the air and their remains fell to the ground. This was followed by a loud deafening explosion in the pack of demon-wolves at the entrance of the cul de sac.

Kennedy, Melissa and Trisha turned around and could only look in awe as they saw the Spartan on top of the rocks behind them.

The Spartan spoke to the women, "Sorry I'm late…"

* * *

I had reached the position just in time to catch two creatures pouncing on the friendlies. I fired a quick burst from my pulse rifle to eliminate that threat and I used my last grenade from my grenade launcher to clear the pack at the mouth of the cul de sac.

I was a little surprised when I looked at the friendlies and I recognized Kennedy.

"Sorry I'm late..." I said to the women.

I could see the shock, but there was also the relief that help was here.

"Better late than never…" Kennedy said.

"How? Where did you come from?" asked Melissa.

"Long story and I don't think we want to stick around… How are you on ammo?" I asked.

"We're out… I'm hoping you're packing…" Kennedy replied.

"I've got over half a clip for my rifle, that was my last grenade and I got a few rounds left for my shotgun… Other than that everything is a walk in the park." I reported.

I could see on my motion sensors that the creatures had moved back. I wasn't going to give them a chance to regroup.

"Where are we heading to? I have the beacon you setup plotted on my NAV system…" I asked Kennedy.

Kennedy replied, "We have a portal point about 100 meters past where the beacon is. We need to get there and say the return spell to open it and we can go home."

I spoke to Kennedy and the rest of her team, "Here's the plan… Stay close and we move towards the beacon… When I say run… you run like something scary is behind you as there will be… You get to your portal point and do what you need to do to open it and go through. I will cover you and draw those creatures to me… Got it?"

The three women nodded their heads in understanding.

"Good… Get ready…" I said.

I could see the women tense up.

"Go…" I said.

We moved out of the cul de sac. The women stayed close to me. I spun from side to side. I could see the creatures on my motion sensors… Some of them were regrouping and moving up on us. I turned and fired a short burst in that direction. I wasn't worried about hitting them… just keeping them back.

We were making our way towards the beacon… It was slow going as the sun had gone down. I had turned on my helmet lights on so we could have some lighting. I was still firing short bursts from my rifle and keeping an eye on my ammo counter.

We were roughly 150 meters from the portal point and I was down to 10 rounds in my rifle. I could see a mass of red hostiles moving up on us.

"Get ready to run!" I yelled.

The mass of red hostiles were coming fast.

"Go!" I yelled.

Kennedy, Melissa and Trisha sprinted towards the portal point. I moved just fast enough to keep myself between them and the creatures. I fired the last of my ammo from my pulse rifle. In one smooth motion I put my pulse rifle on my back harness with my right hand and pulled my shotgun off with my left hand. My timing was good as one of the creatures had leaped at me and I took it out with a blast with my shotgun. I quickly loaded a spare shell… 8 rounds… 3 spares…

The three women ran for their lives… They could hear the snarling and the gunshots… Melissa got to the portal point first. She was winded, but she recovered quickly and said the return spell.

"_Patefacio is limina, domum_"

Melissa watched as the return portal opened. She turned and saw Trisha followed by Kennedy. She could see in the distance the Spartan still holding off the demon-wolves. The other two women got to the portal point winded, but still alive.

Kennedy told Melissa and Trisha to go through. The women looked at Kennedy with concern.

"Go… I'll be right behind you!" she yelled. The women stepped through the portal.

Kennedy turned towards Michael and yelled, "Michael… Time to go!"

* * *

Willow had been sitting in the training area waiting for news from Buffy or for Kennedy to get back. Buffy, Riley and 20 potentials had gone through a portal to find Faith and her team about 3 hours ago. Xander and Giles had wandered by several times to check with Willow on any changes.

Willow was getting tired, but she couldn't sleep. She was just going to sit in the chair and wait. Maybe she would just close her eyes to rest them…

Suddenly a portal started to open in the training area. Willow jumped and was wide awake as the portal formed. She was nervous and hopeful… That feeling quickly turned to shock and fear as Melissa followed by Trisha came through the portal. They were both dirty, out of breath and scared.

Willow was over to the two potentials in a flash…

"Where's Kennedy?" Willow asked with concern and fear growing inside her.

"She's right behind us… We were attacked by some sort of demon-wolf… So many of them we lost count… Dana and Dallas are dead…" Trisha said.

Willow was scared now. She had already lost Tara, she couldn't lose Kennedy.

Melissa said, "We found Michael... He's coming behind Kennedy…"

Willow missed what Melissa had said as she was so concerned about Kennedy that she had tuned everything else out…

* * *

I heard Kennedy yell for me. I turned and started to run towards the portal. There was a huge mass of red hostiles now coming up on me. I had 2 rounds left in my shotgun.

I waved Kennedy to go through the portal and I watched as she ran into the portal…

* * *

Willow was scared as Kennedy still hadn't come through the open portal yet. That fear turned to relief as Kennedy ran through.

Willow stepped up towards the portal as she didn't want whatever was chasing Kennedy to come through into their world…

Willow hollered, "_Iste claudatur limina, nunc_"

Kennedy saw what Willow was doing and hollered, "Willow! No… Don't close the portal yet!"

Willow was puzzled by Kennedy's behavior.

Kennedy yelled, "Michael is right behind me!"

Willow realized what was happening and her eyes widened as she realized what she had done. Willow and the others could only watch helplessly as the portal began to close.

* * *

I was racing for the portal… I was so close to home… I could hear the creatures coming up fast on me… They were faster than I thought.

My helmet display had the portal marked, but something was wrong. The portal was destabilizing and starting to close. Damn it! I'm so close… I kicked in some more speed and I knew it was going to be close. I could hear one of the creatures getting close... I could hear it snarling looking for a meal.

I trusted my instincts and I leaped to dive through the portal. I turned my head slightly and I caught motion out of the corner of my eye that the creature had leaped at me as well. It was going to follow me through the portal. I couldn't let it follow me through.

As I was diving through the air towards the portal I rotated my body in mid-air so that I was now going backwards and I fired my shotgun taking out the creature. The recoil provided a little extra boost to my dive. I went through the portal as it closed…

I came out of the portal backwards sliding across the training area floor. I came to a stop after about 10 meters…

I was home…


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Faith was lying on one of the cell's bed. She was having a hard time focusing and she was drifting in and out consciousness. Kylie and Stacy had picked up and placed Faith on the bed after the guards had dragged her back into the cell. They tried to clean up and administer what little first aid they could, but Faith wasn't looking good. The guards had beaten her badly. She had severe bruising and cuts on her head. One pupil was dilated and you could see blood in the other eye. Kylie and Stacy didn't know if Faith was going to live or die. All they could do was to make her as comfortable as possible. This at least allowed them to focus on something else rather than sitting wondering what was going to happen next.

"What will we do if Faith dies?" Stacy asked with panic in her voice.

"Keep it together Stacy…" Kylie responded trying to reassure Stacy, "…remember what Faith told us. Our first duty is to survive and let's focus on that and trying to keep Faith alive for now."

"Will anyone come for us?" Stacy asked trying to find some glimmer of hope at this time.

"Someone will come… I'm sure of it." Kylie said trying to remain hopeful.

* * *

Buffy and Riley had led their team out of the portal several hours earlier. Using the directions that Madison had provided, they had quickly oriented themselves to which direction they needed to head off in to find the castle. They found a trail in the forest and they followed it staying off to the side and trying to remain quiet to not attract any attention. They knew it would take some time to get to the castle and as it was slow going in the dark.

Buffy was determined to rescue Faith and bring her home.

* * *

Everyone had been shocked and then ecstatic when I had dived through the closing portal. I had been greeted by Willow and saw Giles and Xander running into the training area. When I had asked where Faith was, I was met by awkward and uncomfortable glances.

I was in the warehouse conference room. I was still in my battle armor, but I had my helmet off placed on the conference room table. I found myself looking at the people sitting in the conference room. There was Giles, Xander, Anya, Willow and Kennedy. Adriana was there in her hologram form. I could tell Adriana was happy to see me as she seemed to be glowing more brightly than I remembered and smiling.

I was being brought up to speed on the situation and what had happened to Faith and her team. As I was told about what had happened, I was trying to remain in control of my emotions, but I was seething inside. To have come so far and find that Faith had been captured by a bunch of wannabe medieval demons…

"How long ago did Buffy and her group go through?" I asked still trying to keep my emotions in check.

"It was almost 5 hours ago…" replied Giles.

Giles was looking at Michael and he could see that Michael was trying to maintain control. As they had been briefing Michael on the information they had been able to get from the wounded Madison, Giles noted that Michael's demeanor changed. Michael took on a harder look and Giles recalled the Battle of the Hellmouth and what Michael had done when he thought Faith had died… Michael had been gone for over a year… Escaped the Hellmouth… Crossed who knows how many dimensions/universes and now gets home and gets this news about Faith…

"We should not plan on doing anything rash…" Giles said looking directly at Michael.

Xander added as always trying to lighten a tense situation, "Yeah… No nukes… Nukes bad."

I looked directly at Willow, "How long will it take you to open a portal to that world?" I said with a hard edge in my voice.

Willow sort of recoiled as she was scared of how I looked at her. She could see the intensity in my eyes and how I was trying to maintain my composure.

She stammered, "It… It could about 30-40 minutes before I can attempt to open a portal. I have to prepare the spell first.

"Get on it!" I said harshly.

Everyone looked at each other with concern.

Adriana spoke with concern in her voice, "Michael… Would you not like some time to relax and evaluate the situation more before deciding on a course of action?"

"No… Time is of critical importance. You have sent a small group of people with no heavy support against an unknown number of hostiles against a fortified position… I am the only one here that can go and do this successfully…" I replied.

I was trying to keep my emotions from clouding my tactical judgment, but it was hard.

"Does anyone have any further objections to this?" I said with finality in my voice saying that there would be no further discussions.

Again everyone looked around uncomfortably.

"Okay… Let's move on this… Time is of the essence!" I said with a bark in my voice.

Everyone got up and left the conference room to work on their tasks.

Adriana's hologram form remained in the room after everyone had left. I could see how happy she was to see me, but I could hear the concern in her voice as she asked, "What are you going to do now?"

"I need to get some equipment from the armory while Willow is preparing." I replied.

I could see the concern form on Adriana's holographic face.

"You know me… I wouldn't plan on doing anything stupid." I said trying to reassure her.

"I do know you… That is what worries me." replied Adriana again voicing her concern and worry.

"I missed you too…" I said as I left the conference room to head down to the armory.

* * *

I entered the armory in the basement of the warehouse. I walked through the large room passing by the stacked crates of guns and ammo. Some of the weapons had been taken out of their crates, cleaned, oiled and placed in racks on a wall by the entrance of the armory. Boxes of open ammo and loaded magazines were stacked on a table by the rack. I passed by the racks and crates to go to the back of the room. There was another door at the back of the armory that had a numeric keypad on the side of the door. I was the only one that had direct access to this room. This is where I had stored the weapons and ammo I had brought with me from my universe. I opened the door and looked at the small quantity of weapons and ammo I had left. I had used the last clip for my pulse rifle in the last universe I was in… No more for that weapon. I did have a few grenades for the grenade launcher, but I would be needing something different for this type of mission.

I walked to the back of the room and pulled a tarp off a table to reveal what I was looking for. Adriana was monitoring me as she had access to view this room.

"You are kidding right? Do you not think that is going a little overboard?" Adriana said with some concern as I selected and loaded the weapons I would be taking for this mission.

I had missed these exchanges with Adriana.

"The extra weight I'll be carrying is not an issue… Plus it seems sort of appropriate since I will be storming a castle." I replied smirking inside my helmet.

I attached my weapons to all my suit's hard points and made sure I had enough extra ammo and I headed to the training area to check on Willow's status. I was then going to go through a portal and rescue Faith and bring her home. It sounded all too easy…

As I started to leave the armory to go to the training area, Adriana spoke "Michael… If you insist on taking this course of action then I want to go with you… I… I… missed you very much. It was not the same without you here and whatever happens I want to be with you."

I smiled inside my helmet, "Okay… Only if you're sure about this." I said.

I could hear the relief and emotion in Adriana's voice as she said, "I am sure… Thank you."

I made a detour to the main computer room to retrieve Adriana's storage module.

"Are you ready for this?" I asked.

"I am ready… Yank me." Adriana replied.

I pulled her storage data module and inserted to the special interface slot in the back of my helmet. I immediately felt Adriana's electronic touch on my systems.

"Wait! Something is different here!" Adriana said with some concern as she was settling back into her home inside my battle suit.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I am picking up anomalous code… It looks familiar… Analyzing…" Adriana replied.

After a quick moment Adriana spoke again, "I am detecting Forerunner code in your systems! Where have you been and who have you been interfacing with Michael!" Adriana said it with a mix of alarm and a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Uhhhh… I met a new friend… He fixed my battle armor… It's a long story… I'm sure you'll like him." I said sheepishly. The last thing I needed to deal with right now was a jealous AI.

Adriana replied using that distinctly female tone letting you know that you have done something wrong, "Hmmmm… We will see about that… I will have to analyze and check all systems to make sure that your new "friend" has not made a mess of things in here."

I sighed as I knew right then that I would never begin to understand and comprehend women…

* * *

Willow was having difficulty opening the portal. She had already opened three portals today and closed a fourth. She was tired and the stress of the situation was also causing her to have trouble concentrating on the spell. Kennedy was there trying to encourage her and keep her focused, but it was hard. It didn't help Willow's concentration when Michael entered the room carrying his weapons and looking like a God of War that was about to declare war on a world.

Willow was now nervous along with not being able to concentrate. She said the words to open the portal.

"…_Invoco deam_…"

"…_Meam audi vocationem_…"

"…_Aperuit ostium ut inveniam aliam quaerimus orbem_…"

"…_Aperi ego præcipio_…"

She could feel the spell starting to do its work. Everyone watched as the portal opened, but the opening wasn't very large.

Kennedy watched with concern as Willow was trying with great difficulty to keep the portal open and make it large enough.

Willow was trying through force of will to open the portal larger, but she was tired and she could start to feel it failing.

"I can't do it! It's closing!" Willow cried.

I had watched Willow cast her spell and I could see she was in trouble. There was too much at stake. As always I went with my feelings… I stepped into the circle that Willow was sitting in to cast her spell.

"Michael! What are you doing?" Adriana asked in alarm as I crossed over into the circle.

Everybody watched with shock as Michael stood next to a sitting Willow and yelled,

"_Patefacio is limina!_"

Willow suddenly felt a jolt of energy kick through her body. She could feel Michael's force of will join with her and she could feel his strength… Willow could feel the power that Michael wielded. In an instant she had seen and absorbed Michael's entire life and experiences. She had seen the pain… the anger… the suffering… the happiness… and the love that was a part of Michael.

Everyone watched with awe as it seemed that both Willow and Michael were glowing. They watched as the portal grew larger and stabilized.

I saw the portal open larger.

"What happened?" asked Adriana confused by what had just happened.

I didn't reply as I had no words to explain what had happened. I turned and ran for the portal.

Everyone in the training area could only watch as Willow was still glowing and Michael turned and started running towards the portal. They watched him enter portal. The portal closed after a minute.

After the portal closed, the sitting Willow slumped to the ground. Kennedy rushed to her side concerned. She found Willow laying there with a happy smile on her face.

Willow… Willow are you alright?" Kennedy asked with love and concern in her voice.

All Willow could do was look at Kennedy smiling and say, "Whoaaaa… What a rush…"


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

It had taken several hours, but Buffy and Riley along with their potentials had arrived at the castle. They had taken up position in the woods about 200 meters from the castle gate. Currently they were keeping an eye on the castle.

When they first arrived and Buffy saw the gate open, she was all for storming in guns a blazing. Riley managed to convince her that they should be patient and wait. It was getting later in the night and Riley said that the guards may get sloppy and allow them a chance to go in.

Buffy reluctantly agreed and there they were playing a waiting game. Riley was hoping that either they would get a chance to go in or when the sun came up that Buffy would reconsider assaulting the castle and they would go back. Maybe Riley could call in a few favors himself and get some more help to come back.

The main obstacle to his plan was Buffy's impatience…

Riley had to admit that it was a bit of a rush. He was looking at storming an actual castle. It wasn't something that was taught in basic training. Maybe the rush was being with Buffy again in a fight.

They continued to wait…

A couple of more hours had past and the movement around the castle and on the walls had slowed down to almost nothing. There appeared to be only the two guards at the gate across the drawbridge.

This might be their opportunity at last…

* * *

The Lord Prince Paymon had been woken up by the Captain of his personal guard. Paymon was still in a foul mood for having his entertainment with the female ruined. Maybe he would just use the two other females tomorrow to entertain himself… Yes… They could be easily made to debase themselves for his amusement. As Paymon stretched himself awake, his Captain informed him that the tower lookout had observed movement in the woods outside the gate. There hadn't been an attack on Paymon's realm in nearly 200 years. Paymon deduced that this must be a rescue party for the three humans he held prisoner.

Paymon was a clever and devious ruler, so he went to work on a plan to lure this other group into a trap.

"Do not sound the alarm. Go quietly and wake my troops. Make sure there is no noise made and make sure that all warriors are in position in the courtyard and on the walls. We will draw them into the castle. We need them to come close. This group will probably be carrying the same weapons as those females were carrying."

The Lord Prince had inspected the weapons that the females had been carrying. He had been impressed that these weapons could fire at such far distances. He knew that he would be at a disadvantage in open combat against those types of weapons.

The Captain asked if the guards at the gate should be warned.

Paymon said, "No… They are expendable. If I know my troops, the gate guard will probably fall asleep soon. That will present the opportunity for those intruders to try and enter my castle."

Paymon continued explaining his plan to the Captain, "Make sure all our archers are on the wall… Wait until they come across and when the last of their numbers are crossing the drawbridge… Then open fire… Once we get them in the courtyard we will rain arrows on them until they surrender…"

Paymon paused as he considered all the possibilities. He came up with a contingency plan in case problems arose with his trap, "Bring the female prisoners out and place them on the execution platform for ritual sacrifice… If these intruders don't surrender quickly, we will cut the prisoners' throats and drain their blood." The Lord Prince smiled with anticipation at the prospect of this.

Paymon sent his Captain off to carry out his orders and to prepare the trap for this "rescue party".

* * *

Buffy and Riley kept watch on the castle as it appeared that everyone had gone to sleep inside. It didn't take much longer before the two guards at the gate started to relax and soon both guards were asleep…

Riley had discussed with Buffy what the plan would be. The first step would be to take out the gate guards quietly. Then a team would go across to secure the gate itself. The second team would then come across and enter the castle courtyard and locate Faith and her team. The first team would hold the gate to cover for the exit phase.

Riley knew this was a weak plan. They had no information on how many troops they would be facing or even where Faith and her team were being kept. Riley had tried to talk Buffy out of this one last time.

Buffy was adamant that they weren't leaving without Faith and the others. She smiled at Riley and reassured him that everything would be fine.

Buffy and Riley checked to make sure everyone was in position and understood what they were to do. The big problem was getting across the drawbridge through the gate and into the court yard. If the drawbridge was raised or the gate lowered they were screwed. Even though it appeared that these demons had nothing in the way of firearms, they could sit behind their castle walls and fire arrows at them all day and there would be nothing that could be done…

Riley whispered into his headset, "Okay everyone you know the plan… Nice and quiet… Buffy and I go take out the guards. When we signal, team one goes first and secures the gate and then team two comes across…"

Riley looked at Buffy and he turned and look at the potentials with them. Other than Buffy he had never worked with any of these people before… They were all young girls… women. Riley had to remind himself that they had been trained and had been in combat…

"Okay we go in 30 seconds… Stick to the plan and keep together… Ready?"

Riley saw the affirmative nods… Riley looked to the East… "Damn!" he thought. It was going to be dawn soon… This had taken too long. He had a bad feeling that this was going to get ugly.

Riley nodded to Buffy and they both moved quickly and quietly towards the drawbridge and gate. Riley and Buffy both crept across the drawbridge. They were each taking a guard. As they got closer, they got a closer look at these demons and they were both sound asleep. Buffy and Riley both made sure that neither guard woke up ever again.

Riley and Buffy took position at the gate. Riley opened a com channel on his headset, "Team one… Go!" Riley whispered and team one made its sprint for the drawbridge and gate… "So far so good." he thought.

As team one hit the drawbridge, their running feet echoed on the drawbridge. Riley winced as they crossed. "Too much noise." he thought.

Team one had made it to the gate entrance. Riley and Buffy could see into the courtyard from the gate… They could see at the far end of the courtyard a raised platform. Buffy blinked as she looked, she couldn't believe what she was seeing… On the platform chained to posts were Faith, Kylie and Stacy.

Buffy couldn't see them clearly, but it was very evident that Faith was in bad shape. Riley saw the same thing and he was getting worried… Riley keyed his headset on. "Come on team two… Hurry up…" he whispered into his headset.

Team two was coming towards the drawbridge… They had just gotten on the drawbridge, when Riley heard the swoosh and thud sound of an arrow hitting one of the potentials crossing the drawbridge… This was quickly followed by another arrow hitting another potential…

"We're blown!" yelled Riley and he opened up with his assault rifle to try and provide cover for team two.

The early dawn echoed with the sound of gunfire and the sound of arrows.

Riley knew that they were all screwed. Team one and the survivors of team two huddled in the gate entrance as arrows rained down on their position. They weren't in any immediate danger from getting hit, but they couldn't go forward or go backward without taking heavy causalities and the sun was coming up…

* * *

Faith was barely conscious. The guards had beaten her badly when she stopped them from trying to rape Stacy. The guards had come into the cell and dragged Faith and her potentials outside. Faith was barely walking and was mostly being dragged by her chains. Kylie was trying to help support Faith to keep her standing. Stacy was trying to stay brave, but she had fear in her eyes.

The three women were taken outside into the courtyard. It was still dark, but it looked like it would be morning soon. They were taken up the steps of a platform, as they reached the platform they could see the blood stains on the platform floor. The guards chained the women to the posts on the platform.

Faith was hanging from the post and she was blanking in and out of consciousness. She felt like she was dreaming… She could taste blood and her vision was blurry. The rational part of her that was still functioning told her that she was hurt really bad. She hoped that whatever happened that she would see Michael in the next life. She wished that she could have seen him one more time…

Kylie and Stacy were both quiet and trying to stay calm and face whatever happened with some dignity. Their quiet contemplation was suddenly interrupted by the sounds of arrows and gunfire. It was a rescue party! Hope flared for a moment, but then quickly died as they saw that their would be rescuers were trapped themselves…

Faith barely registered hearing the gunfire. She was still wishing really hard… She was wishing for a miracle…

* * *

_The forest was making its normal noises… The sun was starting to rise… The animals were just getting ready to wake up or go to sleep… The wind was blowing a gentle breeze... Suddenly the animals woke up or looked up startled… The air twisted and turned growing blacker than the night with streaks of lightning. The animals fled in terror as if a predator was coming… A portal was opening up between two universes and as the animals had sensed… a great predator was coming…_

The portal opened and Michael ran out of it, he hadn't even broken stride from when he left the warehouse… Michael was on a mission and nothing was going to stop him… not in this universe or any other universe…

"Adriana, scan and set a NAV point for the castle… quickest route…" I said.

"NAV point set." Adriana happily replied.

"Michael, are you sure you can keep this pace up?" Adriana asked.

"No problem… Everything is 5 by 5…" I replied

Adriana spoke again sounding concerned "There is a chance that you could damage the suit and injure yourself… You are currently exceeding suit speed design specifications."

"We have miles to go… and I have a promise to keep…" I replied as I tore through the forest at a constant speed unimaginable for a Spartan.

* * *

Adriana spoke as I was running, "Michael… I have finished analyzing these "improvements" that have been made to your battle armor…"

Adriana continued, "It appears that your computer storage capacity has been increased by a factor of ten, shield strength is up 35% and shield regeneration is now 44% faster."

"That will be handy…" I said as I was busy concentrating on my run through the forest.

"That is not all..." Adriana said with amazement in her voice. "Your Forerunner friend has also increased the range of your sensor scanners out to 750 meters and made then 75% more efficient… Your suit neural interface has been modified and improved that your reflexes are now 22% faster than what they use to be!"

I was approaching a cliff edge… I could see the castle far off in the distance…

"Michael… You may want to take a detour… that cliff has at least a 150 meter drop." Adriana said worriedly.

"No detours…" I replied and I leaped off the cliff…

* * *

Buffy was pissed off. They were so close to Faith and the other two potentials and a bunch of demons with arrows had them trapped. Buffy looked at Riley for some advice.

"Buffy, we can't hold out here forever. We can go forward or back. Either way we are going to lose people." Riley said.

"Then we go forward!" Buffy said with determination.

"Forward it is then…" Riley said.

Riley quickly reorganized the survivors. He would take a small group of potentials and head to the right and try to use cover to get to the platform. Buffy would take another small group and go to the left to do the same thing. The reminder of the group would stay in the gate entrance and provide cover fire. It all looked good on paper Riley realized, but it was at least 50 meters to cover… a long 50 meters… people were going to die and that was a fact…

"On my mark." Riley said.

Buffy winked at Riley.

"Go!"

The support group opened up to give cover fire.

Riley and Buffy lead their groups in their respective directions. Both groups sprinted for cover.

* * *

Lord Prince Paymon watched and was mildly impressed by these humans. Their breakout attempt caught him and his men momentarily by surprise, but all of the Lord Prince's men were hardened warriors and quickly recovered.

Paymon looked on with satisfaction as he saw several humans from the groups get cut down by his archers… There was still a chance that the humans could escape from his trap… a small chance. To rescue the prisoners… that would take a miracle for the humans…

* * *

Riley had made it to cover with only one of the potentials in his group. The other two potentials were lying in the courtyard bleeding out from arrow hits… These demons knew how to fight and they had Riley pinned.

Buffy was much in the same position as Riley was, except she had only lost one potential, but Buffy and her group was pinned as well. Buffy had a clear view and could see Faith and the other women on the platform… Damn! They were so close…

* * *

Faith could hear the battle… She could hear Kylie and Stacy screaming out for rescue… Faith didn't care about rescue… She had only one wish…

* * *

Lord Prince Paymon felt that this battle had gone on long enough. He raised his hand and his archers and ceased firing.

The demon prince yelled out over the courtyard, "Humans! You have failed! Surrender now or we will kill the prisoners!" Paymon planned to kill all the humans anyway, but he didn't care if he lied to them… They were only humans… weak creatures beneath contempt. He had already planned to give the women to his troops and when they finished with their "entertainment" then every last human would be sacrificed… Paymon smiled with pleasure at the thought of it all…

* * *

I timed it right and activated my armor-lock system as I landed from my jump off the cliff with a loud crashing thud in a crouched kneeling position. My shields crackled with energy and the ground cracked and shuddered from my landing. I was up and running again without a moment's hesitation. I left a crater impression in the ground where I had landed.

I was getting closer to the castle… My audio sensors could hear the sounds of battle.

I ran faster…

* * *

Buffy was even more pissed off now. They had failed to rescue Faith and now they were trapped. She heard the demon leader speak with his terms. Buffy was just not going to give up… But what was there to do? Buffy called Riley on her headset…

"I'm sorry Riley… I wish… I wish…" Buffy said.

"Buffy don't worry. It wasn't your fault… We got dealt a bad hand." Riley replied.

"I really don't want to surrender, Riley…" Buffy said leaving the consequences unsaid.

"I'm with you…" was all that Riley said.

Buffy had made her choice. She looked around at the potentials with her and at the platform where Faith and the other women were…

"Buffy yelled out "Hey Butt face! You know what you can do with your surrender… BITE ME!"

* * *

Paymon heard the human's response… "So be it!" he yelled back. He waved his hand again and his archers resumed firing… He turned and made another signal with his hand. A group of demon priests came out of the building next to the execution platform. They headed up the steps to the platform… The head priest drew a long blade and approached his victims…

* * *

Faith could see through her blurred vision the demons coming up the platform. She saw one of the priests draw an evil looking blade. He was approaching one of her potentials...

* * *

"Michael, we are 750 meters from the castle…" Adriana reported.

I could see my motion sensors start to pick up targets… I could see my threat analysis computer start coding all the hostile targets and the friendlies…

"Michael! We are on the wrong side of the castle we have to go around to access the gate!" Adriana reported.

"I don't need a gate…" was all I said as I pulled the fully loaded M19 rocket launcher from my back, without breaking stride, and brought it up to aim at the castle wall.

For the first time in all the time that I have known Adriana, she was almost speechless. All she could say was "Oh…"

* * *

The demon prince was watching everything unfolding… He smiled… He could hear in the distance a strange sound he had never heard before…

* * *

Faith could see the blade getting closer to the throat of one her potentials… One of the girls she was responsible for… Faith was resigned to what was happening, but she didn't care… She only wished that…

* * *

I had the rocket launcher up and was aiming for the castle wall. I used my targeting computer to pick my breach point and then locked on… I fired both rockets in quick succession. I dropped the rocket launcher and sprinted even faster for my breach point…

"Michael! Warning… You will get caught in the back blast and explosion from the rockets!" Adriana warned me.

"We are about to see how good these new shields really are…" I replied.

* * *

Buffy looked on helplessly as she watched the demon priests approach one of the potentials on the platform… She saw the knife that one of them was carrying and she was getting a sickening feeling in her stomach. She just didn't have a shot to take… It was bad… It was…

* * *

Two huge explosions ripped through the castle wall. Everyone in the castle just stopped and stared… There was dust, smoke and debris filling the air… No one could see what was going on… Buffy was coughing and trying to clear the smoke and dust from her eyes… She could see that everything was settling… She could see the breach in the castle wall… She thought she saw someone standing in the breach… She could make out a form and it was becoming clearer…

* * *

Lord Prince Paymon saw his castle wall explode… He was shocked. The humans didn't have anything with them that could do that to his fortress… He looked to the breach and he saw a form in the dust and smoke… It was man shaped, but larger than any man he had ever seen… As the dust cleared the form was clearer, it was someone wearing armor and a helmet… but it was armor of the likes he had never seen… The helmet covered the whole head of the being and you could not see its face. The face was just a single large gold eye… The creature appeared to be glowing. It had a crest on the left side of its chest. Paymon could make it out as it was such a strange crest… It was a number… 113

* * *

Buffy blinked… She couldn't believe what she was looking at… Everyone in the castle stared in disbelief and shock... The only person that wasn't shocked was Faith and she thought she was hallucinating. Faith just looked at Michael and smiled…

* * *

"You do know how to make an entrance…" was all that Adriana said.

My armor and shields had taken the blast and had held… I used the time from the explosions and everyone's shock to quickly analyze the situation. I had determined the priority targets and how to "deal" with them.

The primary threat was the platform with Faith and the two potentials. There was a demon holding a knife just getting ready to cut the throat of one of the potentials…

I drew my side arm in a motion so quick that it was done in the blink of an eye and I put a bullet in the demon's head…. I quickly followed in succession taking out the rest of the demons on the platform.

I could see Faith chained to a post on the platform… She looked in bad shape, but she was smiling at me… I looked at all the red hostile targets on my scanners… I was mad…

* * *

Riley couldn't believe that he was actually looking at a Spartan… He could see the Spartan looking at the platform where Faith and the potentials were chained up. Riley could see Faith smiling… This had to be Michael… Riley blinked and he heard shots. He saw all the demons on the platform were dead. Riley recalled what had happened at the Battle of the Hellmouth and what Michael had done there when he thought Faith had died…

Riley almost felt sorry for the demons…

* * *

I moved quickly through the courtyard, I had already holstered my sidearm and drew both my M7 submachine guns… The secondary threat was to clear the walls of demons. I opened up on the demons on the wall… I made for stairs to go up to the ramparts… I leaped up the stairs taking six steps at a time… I went to work securing the walls…

* * *

Paymon was in shock… One moment he was getting ready to kill the humans and the next there is this strange creature who is killing all his warriors… The speed that this creature moved at… None of his warriors could stand against it… arrows bounced harmlessly of its armor. This creature was showing no mercy as it cut down everyone whether they stood to fight or ran away.

Paymon screamed for his personal guard to attack. The Lord Prince's personal guard was made up of his best warriors. They jumped to obey their Lord Prince and they flowed on to the walls to attack the creature…

* * *

I watched my ammo counter for both of my submachine guns go to zero. I had cleared the top of the castle walls of the archers. I could see more demons carrying swords coming up the stairs towards me. I dropped my weapons and reached for something attached to my side suit hard point.

* * *

Paymon watched as the creature dropped its weapons… Paymon smiled as the Lord Prince was confident that his personal guard would cut down this creature…

* * *

Buffy watched Michael drop his weapons and move towards the attacking demons. She saw him take something off his suit and hold it in his right hand. She didn't have any idea what he was up to and she was too busy trying to kill demons in the courtyard and get to Faith and the other women on the platform.

* * *

I had the curved piece of metal in my hand… I watched the demons rushing towards me… I smiled and pressed the activation button on the sword hilt.

* * *

Buffy watched in stunned amazement as Michael suddenly had a glowing sword in his hand. All Buffy could say was, "Well that's new…" as she watched Michael cut two demon warriors in half with one slash.

* * *

Riley had a hard time concentrating on the fighting in front of him as he was like Buffy and was stunned by watching the Spartan suddenly carrying what looked like a "light saber from Star Wars" but this a more evil and gruesome looking weapon. Riley watched in awe as the Spartan decimated the demons attacking him. He was slicing them with the sword in one hand and he would pick up demons with his free hand and throw them off the walls. Riley could hear the demons' bodies hitting the ground with a sickening thud.

* * *

Paymon was in complete shock as he watched his best and most loyal warriors die to the last man. He could only watch as his warriors were sliced in half or impaled by the "sword" that the creature was carrying. The creature would also pick up his warriors and throw them with contemptuous ease from the walls to their deaths.

Worse yet, the humans trapped in the court yard resumed their attack and what warriors Paymon had left were being cut down by the humans…

Paymon watched as the creature finished killing the last of his personal guard and then the creature looked directly at him…

The Lord Prince Paymon felt fear for the first time in his existence. He did something he had never down in battle… He ran… He ran as fast as he could… He retreated into his castle and made his way down into deepest recesses of the castle… He wanted to hide from this creature… He ran through the caves under his castle, but he heard something chasing him… He ran for what seemed like an eternity until he tripped and fell. When he looked up… He was looking at the creature… the nightmarish man-creature wearing armor with the one big golden eye instead of face and with the number 113 on its chest…

Paymon's screams echoed through the caves and then there was silence…


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

_Faith was dreaming…_

_She was in a castle and there were demons with swords that had captured her. She was hurt badly and chained to a post on a platform in the courtyard. Two of her team members were chained to posts on the platform with her. She saw a demon with a sharp knife approaching her and the other women… She was wishing that Michael was here… She heard gun fire and Buffy was there trying to get to her, but arrows were falling from the sky like rain… Suddenly there was a huge explosion and a part of the castle walls had crumbled… From the smoke and debris she could see Michael standing there… She saw him tear through the courtyard firing two weapons from each hand and then he was on the walls… He was throwing the demons off the walls and he had a strange glowing light in his hand that would cut the demons in half… He was tearing through the demons like the warrior he was… She was being lowered to the platform… She could hear voices saying words like head trauma and cranial bleeding… Faith didn't care… Michael had come… She could see him look at her… He had his battle armor helmet on, but she knew it was him… She was being picked up by Michael and carried in his arms… She could hear him speak, but it was hard to make out the words… She could see the air begin to crackle and spark around them and then there was darkness and then they were in a brightly lit room… She heard Michael scream for someone named Virgil to help. She could see Michael take his helmet off and toss it aside and talk to her… She could see a floating light bulb and then a very bright light and darkness came, but she could still hear Michael's voice talking to her… Talking to her through the darkness to show her the way home…_

Faith opened her eyes and was looking up at a ceiling. She was trying to get her bearings and started to raise her head, but there was some pain and took it slowly. She managed to get herself propped up on her elbows without too much discomfort.

Faith looked around the room. It wasn't like any room she had ever been in before. It had a different look and feel than anything she was used to. Faith could see what looked like a balcony attached to her room and the sunlight was coming through the window and balcony door. From what she could see there was a forest and a huge blue lake.

She turned her head slowly and saw a bedside table. On it was a pitcher of what looked like water with a glass next to the pitcher. Also on the bedside table was a vase with some beautiful wild flowers in it.

Faith sat up to have a drink of water. She managed to pour herself a glass from the pitcher and gulped down the water. It tasted so good on her throat and she was feeling a little bit better.

Faith had no idea where she was… She stood up and walked towards the balcony door. She stumbled a bit from being a little dizzy, but she quickly recovered. She looked out the balcony door over the balcony and saw a beautiful forest and a beautiful blue lake that seemed to stretch forever. Faith could feel a gentle warm breeze blow on her. It all felt and looked wonderful.

"I must be dead and this is heaven." Faith thought.

Faith started to think of Michael and her sadness started to return. Faith was startled when she heard a voice she hadn't heard in so long and thought she would never hear again.

"Faith…"

Faith slowly turned around to face the voice as she was afraid that it would be a cruel hoax after hoping and wishing for so long. She turned and saw Michael standing in the doorway across the room…

"Michael… Is it you? Is it really you?" Faith said trying to make sure that what she was seeing was real.

I smiled and moved towards Faith.

"The last time I checked it was still me…" I said smiling taking in the sight of her.

Faith moved towards me. We met in the middle of the room. She reached up to touch my face. I reached down and touched her face cupping it in my hand.

I could see her eyes light up and glisten with tears.

"I have hoped for this for so long... I have been searching for you... I thought I had lost you." Faith said trying to choke back her emotions.

"Am I dead? Is this heaven? How do I know that this is real?" Faith asked still finding it hard to believe this was actually happening.

I leaned down and wrapped my arms around and picked her up in my embrace with her feet off the ground. I kissed her for what seemed like an eternity.

"This isn't heaven, but it feels damn close…" I said looking into Faith's eyes.

Faith returned my look and smiled again and she kissed me again.

I was where I needed to be… I was home.

* * *

Michael and Faith spent the next few days allowing for Faith to recover some more and they caught up on everything that had happened while they were apart.

Michael introduced Virgil to Faith and explained how he had saved her life. Faith thanked Virgil for helping both of them. Virgil turned a slightly red color when Faith thanked him. Virgil said it was a minor system fault, but Michael could have sworn that Virgil was blushing.

Adriana and Virgil were having a grand time comparing code and information. At first Virgil was very defensive about allowing another AI to access the installation, but Michael explained that Adriana and him were a package and that Virgil would probably enjoy the extra company.

After Faith had recovered from her injuries, she and Michael spent some "quality" time together. Adriana made sure that Virgil did not disturb Faith and Michael during this more intimate reunion period.

After a couple of days, Michael took Faith over to the village and introduced her to everyone there. Faith met Tala and her family and was told the story of how Michael had saved Tala and her brother. Tala told Faith that she was very lucky to have a man like Michael and to never doubt his love for her. Faith had a bit of a moment as she had detected some chemistry between Tala and Michael, but Faith was too happy to let it really bother to her as she was with Michael right now. She had her own guilt and baggage to worry about.

The village had another big celebration and once again life was celebrated by everyone and Michael and Faith were able to join in and enjoy it as well. It was announced during the celebration that Tala and one of the village's warriors named Maska were to be married soon. Faith had watched Michael's face with some concern when the announcement came, but all Michael showed was happiness for the new couple as he wished both of them best wishes and a long life together.

* * *

A few days later, Faith and Michael were on the balcony off of their room in the installation. They were both bent over resting their arms on the balcony railing. They were watching the sunset off in the distance over the lake.

"It's so beautiful here… It is like heaven…" Faith sighed.

I turned from watching the sunset and studied Faith's face. I knew every contour and line of her face. I couldn't believe it had been almost five years since I had first dreamed of her on that planet so far away in another universe.

Faith turned to look at me and she smiled at me almost bashfully.

"What? she said smiling.

"Just thinking…" I said

"Thinking about what?" Faith asked.

"About everything that has happened to bring us to this point…" I replied

We were quiet for a few moments. I broke the silence.

"We have to go back… They don't even know if you are alive or dead."

Faith sighed, "Yeah I know… This was too good to last…"

"Well you still owe me some vacation time on a beach somewhere…" I said smiling once more.

We continued to watch the sunset…

I hated to spoil the mood, but I knew that there would never be a good time to ever bring it up.

"Ummm there is one thing I need to tell you…" I said with much hesitation in my voice

Faith was still looking at the sunset and said, "Is this about you and Tala?"

I looked at her with shock and awe, "How? How did you know?" I barely managed to sputter out.

"Women can tell about these things…. Are you planning to do anything like that again?" Faith said with a slight menacing tone in her voice.

"No ma'am!" I said with all the vigor of a recruit in basic training.

"See that you don't…" Faith replied again with her menacing tone.

We stood again quietly looking at the sunset.

Faith broke the silence again, "Ummm Michael, I really need to tell you something. It's about…" she said with hesitation in her voice.

I interrupted her, "Do I need to shoot anyone or blow anything up?" I asked in a matter of fact way still watching the sunset.

Faith took a moment to think…

"Faith?" I said slightly annoyed.

"Just thinking… No… It's nothing I can't handle now!" Faith replied smiling with happiness in her voice.

"Then I don't need to know about it." I said much to Faith's relief

We continued watching the sunset. We were quietly reflecting on everything. I spoke breaking the silence once more.

"Relationships are strange…" I said.

"Uh huh..." Faith replied smiling.

We watched until the sun was gone…

* * *

_Sunnydale, California – October 14, 2004 – 1144 PST_

Buffy was wandering through the warehouse. It all seemed empty and different. Adriana was gone along with Faith. They had suffered casualties on their assault on the castle and there were fewer potentials now. Giles and Willow were working on a way to locate more potentials, but for the time being, the warehouse was a lot less crowded.

Buffy sighed. They had finally found Michael (or he found them depending on your point of view) and then he opens his very own portal and takes the badly injured Faith to god knows where without any word since then.

After Michael had basically "destroyed" the majority of the demons in the castle, Buffy, Riley and the surviving potentials gathered the wounded and dead and headed back to their portal point. Riley had used his influence to get medical treatment for those wounded when they returned back to their universe.

Riley and Buffy had an awkward good-bye as they both knew that there were still feelings there, but Riley was faithful to his wife and Buffy wasn't going to be the "other woman." Besides, she kind of liked Riley's wife.

The government was happy as it appeared that the threat that Adriana posed to the computer networks was over since she had left with Michael. Buffy and her small group weren't about to tell Riley let alone the government, that Adriana had left back doors on some of the more sensitive systems with programs running to flag and notify of any files and communications that involved Buffy and group, the warehouse and Sunnydale. Riley also reported to his superiors that any action they took against Buffy or any others in the group would probably result in a confrontation with the Spartan. From the drone footage of the Battle of the Hellmouth and what Riley reported witnessing it was probably in the best interests of everyone to let the matter drop.

Buffy had wandered through to the common area in the warehouse. It was almost lunch time and she was getting hungry. It looked like everyone was straggling in for lunch as well.

Buffy saw Giles sitting at one of the tables reading a book and eating a snack. Buffy made her way over to Giles.

"Giles I was thinking of doing some training this afternoon, I was won…" Buffy started to say when she was suddenly interrupted by a loud crackling noise. Buffy turned to face the noise and she saw what appeared to be a portal forming in the middle of the common area.

"Willow, are you doing this?" Buffy yelled over the noise.

"Not me…" Willow yelled back.

Buffy could hear Giles next to her say, "Oh dear lord…"

Xander had made his way over to Buffy and was saying, "This doesn't look good does it!"

Buffy was about to yell at everyone to head to the armory to gear up, when two forms appeared in the portal and suddenly took shape.

Buffy blinked and everyone stared in shock as they were staring at Michael in his battle armor and Faith was standing next to him looking healthy and smiling.

Faith broke the ice finally, "Hey B… Did ya miss us?"

* * *

After everyone had a chance to regain their composure and recover from the shock of Faith and Michael's sudden appearance. They all sat down and Faith and Michael explained to everyone about what had happened and where they went. Both groups caught up on all the news of what had happened.

Everyone sat in disbelief as they heard Faith's and Michael's story, but how could you deny it. Here was Faith and Michael sitting in front of them.

Adriana had remained behind for now with Virgil as she was having an "interesting" time as she had put it with the Forerunner AI.

Buffy could see a change in Faith now that she was with Michael again. It looked as if all of Faith's inner demons had been put to rest for now. Both Faith and Michael looked rested, happy and at peace.

Willow just watched Michael. She had recovered from her encounter with Michael. She had a better understanding and insight (even more so than Faith) of what and who Michael was.

"So what's the plan now?" Buffy asked Faith.

"We'll see what happens… First thing is that I promised Michael was that we were going to spend some time travelling and find ourselves a secluded beach somewhere. We're planning on going back to the other universe to get Adriana, but other than that we are taking each day as they come.

Xander was looking at Michael's battle armor, "There looks to be some new writing on the shoulder of Michael's battle armor. I can't make it out. What does it say?" Xander asked.

Faith just smiled, "Michael and I talked about it and we decided that in the event if we became separated again, that there should be something to help Michael find his way home. Take a closer look."

Xander leaned in closer and could finally make out the words on the Spartan battle armor…

_Property of Faith Lehane. If lost return to Sunnydale California or the 5414 Erde-Tyrene Research Installation._


	18. Chapter 18

**Epilogue**

_The young woman walked down the hallway to her room. As she passed others in the hallway she would smile and wave and appear friendly, but on the inside she was a raging torrent of emotions… Hate and Jealousy were the most prevalent ones, but there was also longing… She so wanted and loved him… But he was with that other woman…_

_As the young woman walked, she thought of how unfair it all was. She was the only one that could truly love him. He was more than a man… He was a god… He was her savior. He had saved her life three times now, she longed to tell him how she felt, but **SHE** was with him… That **BITCH!**_

_She remembered each of the times he had saved her life… Killing the Ubervamp and Bringers at Buffy's house… How he came roaring in and killed waves upon waves of Ubervampires and then sacrificed himself to save all of them at the Battle of the Hellmouth… Most recently when that knife was so close to cutting her throat and he made his heroic grand entrance and put a bullet into the demon priest's head…_

_It was so all unfair… She never asked for this life. She had been living a normal life with her parents and younger brother. She was pretty and popular in high school and doing all the things associated to being a teenager…_

_That had changed the night when she had sneaked out to go to a party. When she got home, she found her parents and little brother dead. The Bringers had cut the bodies up and there had been blood everywhere. She remembered running from the house in terror and running straight into a man. With his British accent, he had told her that he had come to protect her and take her to a safe place. Even when they got to Sunnydale, she still hadn't felt safe… All she could keep seeing was the bloody cut up body of her little brother and wonder how a small body could hold so much blood…_

_Only when he appeared did she finally feel safe… He is so big and strong… How she longed for him to hold her and to hear him say that he loved her and make her feel safer… She imagined what sex would be like with him and it excited her… It would all happen if it wasn't for that **BITCH!**_

_That **BITCH** wasn't worthy of him… Faith had given up and ran away when it appeared he had died... She had heard the rumors of what Faith had done in LA and how Faith had whored herself out… That **BITCH WHORE **was not worthy of such a man such as him! She so wanted to be with Michael..._

_The young woman had cried in her room by herself when it appeared he had died, but she hadn't understood her feelings for him at the time… Everything was so much clearer now…_

_She had worked so hard to prove herself worthy of him. She had become stronger and better than all the other potentials. The other potentials looked to her as an example and for leadership…_

_Yet she wasn't a Slayer… She was still only a potential… Something would have to change... If she was a Slayer, then he would accept and love her like she deserved…_

_The young woman reached the door to her room. She opened it and went in. As she closed the door, she heard a voice that she recognized and hadn't heard in what seemed a long time…_

_"Hi Sis, how are things?"_

_The young woman turned quickly and faced the smiling image of her dead little brother…_


End file.
